Fattoria Le Pupille is one of the leading estates in the coastal Tuscan region of Maremma, and its flagship Bordeaux bottling Saffredi is arguably Maremma’s best wine outside of Bolgheri. Or so the international press seems to agree, showering it with praise in every vintage. Recent ones have been as successful as ever, with the 2004 ‘the best Saffredi ever made’ (this exact phrase comes up with 50% Google hits on this wine) and 2006 looking just as promising: it got RP96 and WS94, whatever it’s worth.
Le Pupille also have a very efficient marketing team that made sure samples of the 2006 Saffredi reached all the right tasting tables (see e.g. Simon Woods). Yours truly was delighted to be on the list and assess this little fellow for your benefit.
Made of 25-year-old Cabernet Sauvignon, some Merlot and splashes of Syrah and the local Alicante (an offspring of Grenache), it has 14% alc. and sees 75% new oak. The oak must be very expensive and carefully selected here, for it makes its impact very clear from the beginning to the end. The dominant feeling is of richness, fatness, ripeness, abundance, luxury; the bouquet of this wine is that of a fat wallet and being able to buy whatever you like. There’s also quite some herby, bell-peppery, minty Cabernet–Merlot character on the nose, and a core of fleshy cherry fruit that has a Tuscan feel to it. So while a little disjointed and somewhat notional the nose at this stage the 2006 Saffredi can be said to mix terroir, grape variety and élevage in (more or less) happy proportions.
Flavourwise, to say this wine is tight is to say little. The concentration is almost soupy and aromatically it is a little breathless from the oak and extract at the moment. Yet there are hints of that extra character that distinguishes a great wine from a merely very good one. The ripeness is controlled and there is not one moment of jamminess; the toasted oak flavour is quick to recede on the palate; the tannins are very present but never exactly overpowering, subtly but firmly controlled. And while it’s obviously way too early to open this big ‘potential’ wine, time in the glass and in the decanter is pretty quick to soften this into a fruitier, cherry-laden, only subtly oaky mouthful of ripe Mediterranean Cabernet. It’s all very, very good, like a brilliantly engineered sports car or an expensive watch; there is very little to criticise on the technical front.
Is there on the ‘emotional’ front? I’ve voiced my skepticism about the use of French grapes in Tuscany before, and while it’s obvious there are some world-class Cabernets and Merlots here, they never quite convey a sense of place and uniqueness as Sangiovese-based Tuscan reds can and should. Saffredi is „simply put, stunning juice” (quote from the Wine Advocate) but could equally well come from Lazio, Campania, Veneto or even Spain or Greece. After all, planting Cab and Merlot on a good soil and an exposed site, manicuring the vines and ageing in 1000-€ barrels is, when you have the guts and means, the easiest thing. I like to define such wines as ‘invented’. Saffredi is purely the fruit of its owner’s, Elisabetta Geppetti, two decades of determination. It shows top-notch quality of fruit and is really a supremely designed wine. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s not a very emotional wine for me, lacking what I look for in a Tuscan red, and coming across as a little soulless.
