Vincenzo Tommasi established in 2005 Podere della Civettaja winery in Romena di Pratovecchio, in a valley in the northern Tuscan province of Arezzo. His passion for the Pinot Noir of Burgundy (specifically the wines of the legendary Henri Jayer) is the basis of this adventure: looking for the most suitable conditions for its production, Tommasi identified them in the Alto Casentino area, very cold in winter and hot (without excesses) in summer, with an almost total absence of humidity. Convinced of the great potential of those lands, Vincenzo began to create a community around his heart grape variety, a community that became, in 2010, the Associazione Produttori di Pinot Nero dell’Appennino Toscano.
Currently, the winery has just three hectares of vineyards, with a very high density of planting (9000 vines per hectare), cultivated, with simplicity and common sense, according to an organic and artisanal approach. From these lands the 7000 bottles of his Civettaja Pinot Noir (the only wine produced) are born, from grapes harvested by hand, with care. In the cellar, after a spontaneous fermentation, with indigenous yeasts, in open oak vats and in cement tanks, the wine is aged, unfiltered, for 12 months in new barriques, for 10 in cement tanks and then for 9 (final) in bottle.
The 2017 vintage has a ruby color with the garnet edge, rather pale and slender, with a bouquet that opens on hints of blood, roast meat, undergrowth and licorice, followed by Potpourri, sour cherry, wild blackberry and herbs, with a final echo of vinyl, boisée and balsamic.
Since from the color and the aromas it is evident how this wine follows a sort of expressive ‘third way’ as compared with the Burgundian in subtraction models, and with italic examples of woody and over-extracts wines that raged until a few years ago.
Nevertheless, it is the palate of this wine that really makes the difference: the fruity component, slightly shaded by the nose, emerges overbearing, with finesse and attention to detail verging on the unbelievable, accompanied by an immediate freshness in the entrance that, however, over time, gives way to a feeling of enveloping heat, all accompanied by an elegant contrast, between the sense of sweetness given by glycerin (masterfully disguised) and the savory-iodine note, which persists even after its long finish.
Rating: 95/100
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