UNEXPLORED
PICKING A GRAPE DESTINATION IN TUSCANY IS TOUGH. The varieties of reds and whites are endless. A fellow writer suggested Siena, home of the Palio, the famous horserace held twice a year in Piazza del Campo. A former professor plugged San Gimignano and Vernaccia di San Gimignano, the region’s only white wine with DOCG status. A colleague urged me to consider the Chianti Classico Region and Montepulciano, known for Vino Nobile. After much thought I chose Montecucco, a relatively new, tourist-light appellation in the Province of Grosseto in southern Tuscany, situated between Montalcino and Scansano. My tour guide for the trip was Giovan Battista Basile, owner of Basile Organic Wine Farm. On the drive south from Siena, we passed medieval castles on mountaintops, surrounded by slopes alive with vines. Narrow country roads flowed into tiny wellpreserved towns, encircled by woods, pastures, olive groves and grain fields. Basile settled in Tuscany in 1996. “I’m originally from Naples. I moved to Tuscany to join my sister who had opened an Agriturismo in 1992. I had studied law, but my interest in agriculture and viticulture grew in those years. In 1998, Montecucco was declared a designated wine region. At that point, I decided to search for a farm to produce my wines.” Montecucco DOCG covers seven towns with vineyards on the southwest hillsides of Mount Amiata, opposite the Brunello slopes. These towns are: Arcidosso, Campagnatico, Castel del Piano, Cinigiano, Civitella Paganico, Roccalbegna and Seggiano. The Orcho River divides Montecucco from Montalcino.
24 // May/June 2014
BY MERLE ROSENSTEIN
Although it wasn’t until 1998 that Montecucco earned DOC status, and 2011 when the DOCG came into being, the region has been in vines for a long time. Legend has it that in his Commentaries, Pope Pius II tells a legend about Carlo Magno, on his way home to be crowned Emperor by Pope Leo III. Carlo Magno passed the Amiata and Maremma region, his army weakened by the plague. During his sleep, an angel appeared and said: “get up, climb that yoke, throw a dart and pick grass on which root the arrow has struck, toast it on the fire and when it is reduced to dust, give it to the sick to drink together with wine.” According to legend, the army recovered. The Sangiovese grape is easily influenced by terroir and climate conditions, and there are many styles and variations. In Montecucco — an ideal terroir — long sunny summers, hydration in the winter, cool breezes from Mount Amiata and marked differences in day- and night-time temperatures, along with technical knowledge, create distinctive wines. The Consorzio Tutela Vini Montecucco is an association of producers promoting and protecting Montecucco DOC and Montecucco Sangiovese DOCG. An internal panel of professionals recommends viticultural practices to improve wine quality. Dr Daniele Becchi, Coordinator of the Consorzio, said, “our red wines have some typical characteristics such as a marked violet smell and a third higher tannins than the average. The soil, sandstone boulder in some areas and lava ashes in the Mount Amiata area, makes this wine mineral and pleasant to taste. We also find a good level of acidity and a complex bouquet like