According to the available historical sources, it would seem that the history of the area of Carmignano has its roots in the Early Middle Ages, with documents attesting to its agricultural vocation dating back to 804 BC. Certainly, in the eighteenth century, these lands were renowned for their wine production, so much so that Cosimo III de’ Medici, with his 1716 ban, regulated their production legally, including them among the most suitable Tuscany areas. It was a district dedicated to the production of wine from the triangular shape that had for vertices the areas of Pomino, Chianti (roughly corresponding to the current Chianti Classico), and Barco Reale di Carmignano. The latter was none other than the countryside estate of the Medici from Florence, in whose perimeter, enclosed by a wall of about 60 kilometers, were practiced hunting, and produced a wine so good as to cost four times the price of other Tuscan wines.
Over the centuries the hunting lodge, known as the Bacchereto, was transformed into a farmhouse for sharecroppers who cultivated those lands, and remained so until 1920 when the Bencini Tesi family took over it together with 16 hectares of land. Passing from father to son, the estate arrived in 1999 in the hands of Rossella Bencini Testi, and it is here that the story of Bacchereto Terre a Mano knows its turning point. Rossella in fact, after an initial approach to viticulture of an entrepreneurial and standardized character, dissatisfied with the too homologating results obtained too homologating, starts to study organic and biodynamic agriculture. After a first elimination of all the chemical adjuvants of the vineyard follows it starts a real work of reshaping the landscape, in which the woods and olive groves naturally present are flanked by fruit trees.
The result of this work is a production of just 20,000 bottles divided among three wines, with Carmignano docg making the lion’s share thanks to the 16,000 units produced. It is a wine that comes from eight hectares of vineyards, 30 years of age, on calcareous, clayey and schistose soils, planted with a density of 3600 vines per hectare, with a yield, always per hectare, which does not exceed 20 hl. The grapes of Sangiovese (75%), Cabernet Sauvignon (15%) and Colorino (10%), once harvested and destemmed, undergo maceration and alcoholic fermentation, with their indigenous yeasts, for about two weeks in vitrified cement vats. The obtained wine ages for a period of over two years in Allier oak barrels of 350 liters, then for another six months in the bottle, before marketing.
The 2016 vintage shows an intense ruby color, and an olfactory range that opens on notes of cooked plum, mulberry, red currant and dried violet, followed by black cherry grenadine, orange peel, vinyl and blond tobacco, with final balsamic and boisée echoes. The palate is of excellent depth and concentration, with a tasty counter-song made of freshness, balsamicity and mineral sapidity, and tannins already integrated; all enriched by dark fruit and spices that lead the sip to a very long finish.
Rating: 91/100
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