Terre a Mano. Sassocarlo

Fattoria di Bacchereto da M. Rossella Bencini Tesi 
Vino Bianco Toscana IGT
Grape: Trebbiano di Toscana (80%), Malvasia del Chianti (20%)

Sassocarlo is probably the most consistantly on my 'wish-list' of italian white wines.

The warmth of the 2017 vintage suited this late-harvest wine. The fruit is deep and honeyed with gentle nutmeg and apricot nuance, but the wine is bone dry. Candied lemon and gentle tannins hold the wine in a perfect formation.

The 2018 was a small harvest, the quality was quite exceptional.
A full vintage with detailed, pure, bright fruit; hay, melon and apricot with a fine aromatic lift, a touch of caramel, the ripe lemon, thyme and nettle flavours in the fore. A magnificent wine, totally lacking in ‘natural’ flavours and none the worse for that.

2019 Good quality and similar to the 2013 in terms of quantity.
Real depth and weight of greengage, mint and honey infused fruit. Rich and mouth filling citrus fruit, a superb vintage.

And following our summer Tuscany and Central Italy tasting at St John's Smith Square, we now have a vertical tasting offer for you to enjoy comparing the 3 different vintages; certainly different enough to divide those around the table!

link to Fattoria di Bachereto producer page

There are few white wines made in the hills of Carmignano, and Trebbiano and Malvasia are rarely the focus of any great dry white wine, but this wine is so far from ordinary and has been an obsession of mine for 17 years now!
The vineyard is farmed on biodynamic principals, it is just a hectare and a half of vines, planted at an unfashionably low density of 2778 vines per hectare; the average age of these vines is 36. The topsoils are mixed marl, slate, limestone and sandstone, lying at an altitude of 250 metres. The yield is less than 3.5 tons per hectare.
The vines were harvested by hand in the first week of October as skin ripeness is so important for this wine. The bunches were de-stemmed before undergoing a light maceration prior to fermentation in concrete tanks utilising only the indigenous yeasts. When fermentation is complete, this wine is racked into tonneaux (350 litre Allier oak barrels) where it goes through malolactic conversion, remaining on the lees for just over a year. The wine as then bottled and matured before being released.
This is a wine that should be on the bucket list of all wine lovers, it is truly unique and amongst Italy’s most expressive white wines.

Production: 3500 bottles

2016 Honey, cinnamon, fresh vanilla and camomile on the nose.  Deep rich , mineral, apricot and ripe apple fruit.  A grip of tannin, dried lemons and honey.  An intense and profound wine.