NEBBYOLO – From “Lasagna” terroir springs some truly Super Tuscans
A perfect metaphor for how the land influences the grapes
It is balmy Monday morning in late spring under a Tuscan sky as azure blue as the jerseys of the Italian National Team, with clouds floating like little gnocchetti pushed along by sea breezes from the Mediterranean shores, just three miles away.
This is one of those ‘pinch me this is so beautiful’ kind of moments. I’m with my dad, and we are exploring the vineyards of the family owned and run Azienda Agricola Chiappini in the famed Bolgheri wine region of easternmost Tuscany, the birthplace of the vaunted Super Tuscan wines.
Our guide Ilaria calls attention not to the skies overhead but rather the ‘lasagna’ below our feet. Not literally of course, but rather it's her perfect metaphor for the earth that yields the grapes for their exquisite wines.
“The soil is like a lasagna, it layers through the years,” she said explaining how rainfall and winds from the nearby Mediterranean and other topographic and geologic elements have since time immemorial influenced the land to create conditions for growing strong vines that produce ideal fruits for top tier winemaking.
“With the rain, debris is coming down and constructing these layers over many, many, many years, of course, and you have so this silt, and loam, sand, iron and limestones, and then clay, and then rocks, and so a clear image, I think of the soil, I say that's a lasagna.”
That “Lasagna Terroir” is worked daily by 75-year-old patriarch Giovanni Chiappini, a quiet man with a rock solid handshake given by hands gnarled like the vines he’s spent a lifetime tending to. A true farmer with a Yoda-esque knowledge of his land and philosophies of winemaking, his personal motto is:
“La terra vale quanto chi la lavora” – The land is worth as much as those who work it.
They have 45 acres of vineyards (and 45 acres of olive and fruit trees to maintain a biodiversity of crops) and a staff of just four people who work the vineyards year round (plus another dozen seasonal workers at harvest) and create an average production of 80,000 bottles with a goal to reach 100,000 per year, but not over.
Why?
“So that it remains a family run winery. The family wants to keep on managing directly the property, we don't want an external CEO,” Ilaria explained.
“All the wines of the winery are organic certified, and with a huge production, it would be not possible to guarantee such a control. So better – less – but fully organic.”
She said that official certification for organic arrived in 2011 but that Giovanni adopted the practices long before, because, “It's not marketing for him, it’s a personal choice as well, because [his] family lives here. They're working here. Every day I have to take care of my family, and that's Giovanni's philosophy. We are selling not just wine. It's a philosophy, a story, the story of a family working hard for many, many years.”
Giovanni came to the region from Marche as a boy with his family in the 1950’s. They were vegetable farmers, but after Tenuta San Guido (a mile away) forever changed the wine world with the 1971 release of Sassacaia, Bolgheri would become a globally important wine region (DOC) and the seat of the revolutionary “Super Tuscans.” Giovanni followed suit and planted the first vineyard in 1978 (the same year Antinori released the legendary Tignanello).
After touring the impressive grounds and cellars, where we met Giovanni’s top lieutenant Alessandro (and, no kidding, saw two full pallets of wine packed for us, to be delivered later this month) we retired to a veranda looking out at the vineyards, and Martina Chiappini, the eldest daughter, who runs the company day-to-day, took us through a tasting of their wines.
First, Ferrugini. This is their entry level wine – the “Super Tuscan Gateway Drug” we like to say. A blend of 50% Sangiovese, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Syrah, its name comes from the Latin root ferro for iron, because of the iron in the soil. So just like Iron City ;-)
“This is the typical daily wine, a wine that we can easily drink with what we have every day. We can drink it with pastas, with salami. We can drink it with vegetables. We can also drink it with fish, maybe cook with tomato sauce, or served a little bit cooler,” she explained.
Next is Felciaino, their top wine in terms of production. It’s a muscular wine with finesse and is a classic Bolgherian blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, aged for a year in French oak barriques.
Finally, the big daddy – Guado de Gemoli, their flagship wine. This is an absolute velvet hammer of elegance, power and complexity. A ‘Bolghei Superiore’ of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc, it spends 18 months in French oak, passing from hints of ripe red fruits, vanilla and spices to notes of liquorice, tobacco, cedar and cinnamon. It’s an elite wine to be savored on special occasions.
[Chiappini also produces a line of very small boutique production single varietals – Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petite Verdot and Cabernet Franc – dubbed “Liena” which are 100% pure expressions of those grapes and aged 2 years in French oak.]
Sitting in this incredible location, drinking these phenomenal wines and learning about them, spending time with my dad — I’m reminded of my favorite quotes about wine, from the chef and humanitarian Jose Andres: “Every time I open a bottle of wine, it is an amazing trip somewhere.”
Recently, Allora Wine Group Padrone Michel Mincin & Caporegime Brian Cubellis sat down with Shawn Leopardi & Antonino Febbraro of the Boss Juice podcast, a Pittsburgh-based podcast featureing entrepreneurs & their stories of success, and our guys have a great one. Take a watch or a listen!