If the area of the southern Tuscan Coast has its own wine history based on indigenous vines, such as Sangiovese and Ciliegiolo, and the central one is firmly guarded by the wines of Bolgheri, to the north it is difficult to identify an equally developed productive tradition. For this reason it is even more surprising the incredible positioning work that the Duemani farm has been able to do in just twenty years of history. The success story of this winery becomes even more emblematic if we consider that this is entirely ascribed to the stubbornness of its owners, Elena Celli and Luca d’Attoma, who decided to continue the project despite the pre-implant analysis had given a very unsuccesful result.
In fact, the first lands identified, located on a slope of Riparbella, a small town in the municipality of Pisa, were steep and extreme because they were uncultivated for years, full of stones and in a state of semi-abandonment. Nevertheless, Elena (who today deals with the administrative part) and Luca (one of the most prestigious Italian oenologists) decided to plant the first 7 hectares of Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, with a very clear project: revitalize those soils by means of biodynamic principles. Today, another three hectares have been added in the nearby Castellina Marittima, where the new winery is also located (finished in 2014), and the production philosophy has not changed; on the contrary, the Demeter certification has also arrived, without doubt the most famous and rigorous biodynamic certification. The rest is made by the climate, the favorable weather conditions and a lot of work in the vineyard, almost exclusively manual, except for sporadic interventions operated with small light tractors.
Although this winery is known for its top wines trio (a Cabernet Franc, a Grenache and a Syrah) a less pretentious wine, such as Altrovino, allows to start getting a pretty clear idea of what to expect to find in a sip with the byline of Duemani. It is a blend, in equal parts, of Merlot and Cabernet Franc from vines of about 20 years cultivated in Riparbella, at an altitude of about 200 meters, with a planting density of 8400 vines per hectare, on clay/salt soils with a calcareous skeleton. Following a careful selection in the vineyard, from each plant you get less than a kilo of grapes that, harvested manually in small wooden boxes, is sent to the cellar to face a second selection on the appropriate sorting table. The fermentations of Merlot and Cabernet take place separately and spontaneously in cement vats, at a controlled temperature, except for a small part of Cabernet that ferments, always spontaneously, in 500-liter terracotta amphorae (to enhance the freshest components of the grapes). After about three weeks of maceration, the wine is poured into truncated French oak vats, where it ages for about eight months before bottling, without clarification or filtration, and put on the market.
The 2018 vintage shows a ruby color of good concentration, with an olfactory range that opens on notes of black cherry in spirit, cooked plum, mulberry and vinyl, followed by pot pourri, Mediterranean scrub, dark tobacco and carpentry, with empyrean closing empyreumatic echoes. The palate combines an undeniable softness to a good fresh component, more balsamic than acidic, and to an extremely elegant tannin; all enriched by the return of red fruit and the empyreumatic hints that accompany the sip up to a very long finish.
Rating: 88/100
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