The Liminal, Part 1

Shane Golden, Manager of Whelehans Wines

Pointing towards Vinci, “He was born there” she told me.

When the early Autumn night begins to outlive the day I seem to find myself in Italy. Last year it was Piemonte, this year Tuscany. While France may steal the majority of the headlines, being the source of 80% of the world’s fine wine, when it comes to reds, Italy is where my heart lies. Specifically, very specifically, North-West and Central. So it’s safe to expect that what follows next will be full of personal bias. Occasionally when I am asked to recount how I got into wine I evocatively distill it down to a single bottle of Brunello, the pride of Tuscany’s Montalcino, as part of my larger hero narrative. This casually masks the fact that how I got here, like everyone else, was all more down to accident than design.

Last year’s trip to Piemonte had me open-mouthed to Nebbiolo, the grape of Barolo and Barbaresco. It’s traditional expression, which I lean towards, is borne of rough edges and begs for time and patience to appreciate. Given longitude it will slowly turn aristocratic and not too dissimilar to supreme Pinot Noir. Time is glacial, most small towns still have public sundials, and it is no coincidence that the slow food movement started here. (For more here)

If Piemonte is all about Time then Tuscany is Space.

While I had been to Tuscany before on my own Grand Tour, I had never made it out of Florence. This time round I made it to the countryside. The most striking aspect of the region is how similar it appeared to what I imagined it to be. Everywhere is a film set. You do not need to go in search of it, it comes to you. The villas, poggios, olive groves, and vines are exactly how you expect them to be, at once both expansive and close-knit. It becomes something so close that you cannot see its edges and all sense of objectivity recedes.

Tuscany’s beating heart is the Chianti Classico region with Sangiovese (The blood of Jove) its, well, lifeblood. While not an indication of quality, “Classico” on an Italian wine label generally refers to the oldest vineyards of a particular region.

Chianti in general has undergone a Renaissance (pardon the pun) in recent memory. In a not too distant past it was the home of bulk table wine. Famously housed in straw-covered flasks or “Fiascos” , this was a staple prop of restaurant scenes in literally every American-Italian movie of the 70s and 80s. This region, generally sitting between Florence and Siena, is now home to one of the world’s highest proportions of certified organic vineyards at around 40%. This certification is notoriously hard to achieve wherever you go, so those that will be farming organic without classification will also be significant.

This region is also home to the Biodstretto del Chianti or Chianti Biodistrict (link here). Similar to a co-operative, which are still very common in Italy wine, it is the coming-together of organic farmers, producers, shops, restaurants and citizens under a common vision of eco-friendly farming and sustainability.

There’s a lot to appreciate here, so what drives all this?

Winemakers are not in each of a generic house-style that will please the masses year-in year-out. Concrete tanks, eggs and amphorae, untoasted oak, large casks, and minimum intervention are in abundance here. All are hallmarks of a terroir-first philosophy rather than the product. On many wines I tasted there were significant differences between adjacent vintages, with the dark satanic mills of climate change looming large. These differences were not brushed under the carpet and every winemaker was quite open about this. There was confidence in their honesty. When you live in this space, this idyll, give it free reign. The rest will take care of itself.

Wine of the month

Collemassari Rigoletto,  2022

Tasting Notes: A traditional-style Chianti in everything but name. Floral and fruity on the nose. Full-bodied, on the palate it is distinctly fresh and mineral with red and black cherries and a touch of pepper spice on the finish.  Note the use of steel and old oak here to emphasize fruit purity and terroir-expression.

Grape: 70% Sangiovese, 15% Ciliegiolo and Montepulciano

Region: Southern Tuscany

ABV: 14%

Ageing: Aged 10 months in both steel and in second- and third-use oak.

https://whelehanswines.ie/products/collemassari-rigoleto-montecucco-rosso-2022