Wojciech Bońkowski
Master of Wine

In Chianti (2)

Fontodi: density

Today’s visit was to Fontodi, another standard-bearing estate of the Chianti region.

Actually Fontodi shares several characteristics with Fèlsina (see yesterday’s post). Both estates were revitalised in the late 1970s in what is now viewed as the first wave of quality revolution for this Tuscan appellation. At that time, 100% Sangiovese wines were introduced (bottled as vini da tavola – table wines – because white grapes were a compulsory ingredient in the blend under DOC requirements), and new French barrique barrels of 225 liters were used for ageing (instead of the traditional Tuscan barrels of 1000 liters and more). Since those early days, the consultant winemaker for both Fontodi and Fèlsina has been Franco Bernabei. The style of the wines is also somewhat similar: structured, deep, serious, ageworthy.

Panzano in Chianti in the January grey.

One major difference is the terroir. While Fèlsina is located on the southern outskirts of Chianti, and its soils are predominantly limestone, gradually receding into sand, Fontodi lies at the very center of the Chianti Classico zone, 2 minutes’ drive from the town of Panzano. Here the soil is predominantly galestro, a mixture of brown volcanic slate and compressed clay, giving concentrated and deep-coloured wines with a lot of backbone.

Apologies to Giovanni Manetti for not coming up with a better picture…

Owner Giovanni Manetti showed us around the estate, whose impressive 70 ha are now farmed fully organic. Fontodi is moving towards self-efficiency: apart from 7,000 olive trees there are now also 22 cows. For manure, but also for meat, so that the estate can supply their own bistecca to provide a classic match with Sangiovese. While I enjoy a good T-bone, visiting these Chianina cows made me feel a bit guilty. This is a fantastically noble breed of cows going back to Roman times.

Fontodi cows.

We tasted a dozen wines. The highlight, apart from a lovely bottle of 1992 Pinot Nero, was the mini-vertical of Flaccianello della Pieve, Fontodi’s flagship wine (100% Sangiovese). Giovanni Manetti says the 2006 is the biggest wine ever produced here, and it is surely a heavyweight with a beetroot-like inky intensity. 2005 is lighter (as befits this challenging, rainy vintage) but needs another 2–3 years to open up. I was disappointed with the 2004 on release and also now: it is oddly vegetal and a little aggressive; perhaps time will help. For a slowly maturing Flaccianello, try the 1999, which is acquiring that tell-tale oily, almondy touch of aged Sangiovese, but still has plenty of power to improve. We also got an interesting comparison with Fontodi’s other top Sangiovese wine, Chianti Classico Riserva Vigna del Sorbo. Coming from oldish vines (35 years) with less new oak but 10% Cabernet Sauvignon blended in, it is a slightly less dense, more flowery interpretation of the grape that I often prefer to Flaccianello. Surely the 2004 is superlative: concentrated but very elegant. The 1999 is also very good.

Tasting several vintages here confirmed my recent impressions that since 2003, Fontodi is really at the top of the game. The wines are now denser, more textured and expressive. In the late 1990s, I found some wines a little overtannic and drying; today, they overwhelm with a sense of balance and harmony. Asked why, Giovanni Manetti answered that it is a matter of slow gradual improvement. He quoted the increasing age of the vines as a factor. I think the exclusive use of indigenous yeast since 2000 really makes a difference. I came away impressed.

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In Chianti (1)

Fèlsina: hospitality, verticality, profundity

It is our second day in Chianti. I am here with two of my colleagues from WINO Magazine to research material for a special edition on this part of Tuscany. It is a bespoke three-day tour of the best wineries, organised for us by the Consorzio del Chianti Classico. They did a great job. We try, too (although today’s 2-hour delay for our appointment at Querciabella was the most embarassing I ever suffered).

This morning we visited Fattoria di Fèlsina. My favourite estate in Tuscany, Italy, and perhaps the world. I have a weakness for their wines – especially the two top labels, Rancia and Fontalloro – that is almost physical and erotic. And incidentally, it was the very first winery I ever visited, in summer 1999 on a vacation to Tuscany before I got into wine writing.

The Fèlsina estate’s main bulding.

We first drove with owner Giuseppe Mazzocolin through portions of this large estate, looking at the vineyards for Fontalloro, Maestro Raro (Fèlsina’s varietal Cabernet), and finally Rancia.

Giuseppe Mazzocolin.

The fattoria itself (this words denote an self-sufficient agricultural estate that produces its own wine, olive oil, grain, livestock etc.) consists of 11 separate poderi (farmhouses), which are now all abandoned. While most Western tourists see the Chianti hills as a sort of modern paradise, with romantic-looking vineyards and olive groves, this area still suffers from a massive social change in the 1950s and 1960s, when the age-old system of sharecropping (mezzadria) collapsed, and most of the rural population emigrated to the cities. A farmhouse like Rancia used to be home to 5 or 6 families, with perhaps 50 people living in the buildings and caring for the adjacent land. Today, these structures are totally empty, and often derelict.

The Rancia farmhouse seen from the east.

Rancia itself even hosted a small monastery, and its imposing outer walls suggest it was a fortified granary, too (name perhaps coming from grancia / grangia).

The name Rancia probably comes from grancia, a fortified granary.

Perhaps fittingly, the 6-ha Rancia vineyard gives birth to one of the most mightily structured and ageworthy wines in the whole of Chianti. Giuseppe Mazzocolin treated us to a rare vertical, from the recently bottled (unreleased) 2005 back to 1983, the first vintage.


I did attend a Fèlsina vertical back in 2001 (see also here and here for some early notes, including a 1997 Fontalloro that remains a legend of my tasting career). But this tasting was the most extensive, and the one where the bottles (surely due to their provenance from the estate’s cellar) showed the youngest. Honestly, none of the wines was over the hill, and even underrated vintages such as 1994 seemed to have the guts for another decade in bottle. It was also interesting to observe the subtle differences from vintage to vintage, and the consistent stylistic thread running through all 11: minerality, austerity, acidity, backwardness, coupled with stupendous elegance and freshness.

The deep unevolved purples of 1990 and 1988 Rancia.

I hope to publish an extensive winery profile with full tasting notes from all these years on my main site soon. Summarizing, I can say that 2005, 2004 and 2001 are the greatest of the latest (with the former especially impressive), while 2000, 1997 and 1994 are all nicely round and balsamic, less tannic, drinking well now, but in no danger of declining any soon. I have had better bottles of the 1990 and the 1988 was a touch muted, but 1985 and 1983 were spectacular: driven, upright, intense, powerful, not even so tertiary, and so full of life! They were further enhanced by the fantastic home cooking of Mrs. Valeria. And then there is Fèlsina’s range of spellbinding olive oils – more on these soon.

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