Corzano e Paterno Chianti Terre di Corzano 2021 (6 Bottles) Tuscany, Italy

$266.00 GST Included

AUSTRALIA WIDE SHIPPING INCLUDED

The estate’s core wine is the Chianti Terre di Corzano, which translates as ‘soils of Corzano’. It’s a blend of 90% Sangiovese co-fermented with 10% Canaiolo, all hand-harvested from Corzano’s rocky, south-facing slopes. The soils here are what the Italians call alberese—compact clay/limestone littered with pebbles—which tends to yield particularly aromatic reds.

Incorporating 15% whole bunches, the wine was naturally fermented and aged in a combination of 25- and 40-hectolitre botti, a traditional maturation that has become rare in today’s barrique-obsessed Tuscany. Arianna Gelpke enjoys the softening impact of large-format wood on Sangiovese tannins, and we can only agree.

From an outstanding vintage, Corzano’s transparent style, emphasising purity of fruit, is in full flight. It’s bursting with the essence of hillside Sangiovese, with fresh cherry and berry aromas and a refined and silky palate perfectly framed by cooling bergamot tang and feathery tannins. The Canaiolo brings a dab of spice to the palette of cherry, liquorice and woodland complexity that builds to a juicy finish. It’s welcoming right down to the final swallow; a moreish snapshot of the Florentine hills.

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ABOUT

Over the last five or so years we’ve tasted a lot of Chianti from estates seeking representation in Australia. Many of these have been from well-established and/or well-regarded names within the Classico region. Most of the time, to be honest, we’ve been pretty underwhelmed by what we’ve found in our glasses – in many cases the wines simply lacked character and any sense of place. For the most part what we tasted were examples of the obvious, plummy, oaky reds that dominate the Chianti landscape these days. They simply didn’t speak to us on any level and they reflected the immaturity of this region as a whole. As Francesco Ricasoli, the 32nd Barone di Brolio, recently told us: “we [Chianti] are still such a young region.

Our history is only just beginning.” There is still much learning going on regarding soil types and clones in Chianti and then there is the all pervasive influence of the US market – which has encouraged too much new oak and over extracted wines. Finally, there is the often forgotten fact that Sangiovese is a very difficult grape variety to work with, even if you have one of the few quality clones. It is for all these reasons that so many Chiantis disappoint those who seek out authentic wines. It’s impossible to make great wines of place when you don’t yet fully understand that place and when you’re working with clones planted for yield rather than quality, as is so often the case.

The many disappointing Chiantis we have encountered has had the benefit of giving us the opportunity to benchmark the producers we already work with from the region, and this gave cause for celebration. Corzano is the quintessential artisanal Chianti estate. Burgundian in size, it is run as a bio-diverse, organic, self-sufficient farm. In the bohemian Aljoscha Goldschmidt we have a producer who crafts a small production from his approximately 15 ha of rocky, hillside vineyards in San Casciano in Val di Pesa, roughly halfway between Florence and Siena. A brilliant viticulturist, relentless in his belief in “typicity”, Goldschmidt makes beautifully vibrant, juicy and elegant Chianti that are simply some of the best in the Colli Fiorentini.

Aljoscha (or Joshi) loves to do everything by hand, making him very unique in the Tuscan wine scene. Here, consultants with new oak and viticultural gizmos are not welcome, and stately buildings, manicured gardens and tourist trap paraphernalia are replaced by a naturally beautiful working farm in the hills, studded with ancient buildings that have been tastefully maintained (you can rent these farmhouses, an option that we very highly recommend!). The winery has just what is required to make pure, expressive wines – including some large format oak (a rarity in Chianti). The wines are fashioned from ripe, juicy Sangiovese with a rare patience and a kind of pastoral serenity. They are complemented by some of Italy’s finest Pecorino, made from the estate’s own Sardinian sheep. In fact, in Italy, Corzano is as well known for its cheese as it is for its wine and supplies many top Italian restaurants.

On a recent visit we asked Aljoscha if we could ship some of his cheese to the Australian market. “I’m so sorry,” he said in his gentle voice. “We do not have any to sell. We do not want to grow and if we started exporting we would have to cut our allocations to our oldest clients which would not be fair.” It’s hard to argue with such integrity no matter how delicious the product. Corzano also produces one of Tuscany’s most intense small batch olive oils. In fact, everything the Corzano e Paterno farm produces tastes fresh and delicious, and everyone who works at the estate exudes both a sense of purpose and a down to earth, unpretentious, bucolic warmth which comes through in the products of this communal style farm. Visiting there and staying on the farm, you get the impression that produce is solely being created to cater for the collection of craftsmen, artists and artisans who inhabit the Corzano estate, such is the non-commercial atmosphere. Somehow this makes the wines taste even better.

Fine Wine Cellars

On the one hand, our role as a merchant of all things wine & spirits could not be simpler. We aim to source the most delicious, the most authentic, and the highest quality products possible from Australia and around the world in order to offer them to our clients. We live or die by how well we perform this task. Of course things are rarely as simple or as easy as they seem. Hunting for wines & spirits is no different. Apart from the months spent travelling, countless days and evenings spent tasting and the outrageous wine expenditure in the name of ‘research’, sourcing quality wine and spirits requires expertise and experience. Understanding the potential of a producer and their products is much more than just a slurp and a spit.