This year's Decanter World Wine Awards Regional Trophy for Sweet Tuscany over £15 went to Capezzana, Riserva, Carmignano Vin Santo 2007 (13.5%)
Tasted against:
- Lanciola, Le Messe di Greve, Vin Santo Occhio di Pernice 2007
Profile:
Serena Contini Bonacossi is direct and unambiguous when questioned about the importance of Capezzana’s Vin Santo among the estate’s wines. ‘It is our best wine, in which you can find more of the soul of Capezzana and the terroir of Carmignano than in any other.’ A maximum 6,000 bottles of this Trophy-winner are produced each year.
Bought in the 1920s by Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi (a noted collector of antiques who contributed 10 rooms full of his acquisitionsto the Uffizi gallery in Florence), Capezzana’s wines were estate bottlings from the first vintage; Alessandro’s son Ugo was instrumental in striving for Carmignano’s DOC recognition (it won DOCG status in 1990).
Situated 24km north west of Florence, Carmignano is Tuscany’s smallest appellation, and fruit at Capezzana (in conversion to organic status) is harvested from vineyards on schistous-clay soils at up to 200m altitude across the 104-hectare estate.
The blend for this riserva is 90% Trebbiano and 10% San Colombano, with the former a high-quality, low-yielding clone that has been cultivated on the estate for the past 50 years. Fruit is dried on cane mats in a ventilated loft until January, before a long, slow fermentationin chestnut, cherry and oak casks of 50 to 200 litres over at least four years. By this time, only 20% of the weight of the original fruit remains, so concentrated is the wine.
Written by Decanter
