Flaccianello della Pieve 2018

Giovanni Manetti, president of the Chianti Classico Consortium, has run his family’s property since 1980, the year preceding the first release of Fontodi’s flagship wine,‘Flaccianello della Pieve’. Although the family has been rooted in Chianti for centuries, they only took ownership of the estate in 1968, transforming a crumbling farmhouse with a few hectares of vineyard into one of Tuscany’s most impressive producers.

Located just south of Panzano in an amphitheatre-shaped valley known as the Conca d'Oro ('golden shell'), Fontodi’s vineyards benefit from southern exposure, an average altitude of 450 metres and well-drained soils. This enables grapes to ripen fully while retaining acidity and aromatics, resulting in elegant, long-lived wines. 'Scaglia Toscana' soils are made up of a mixture of Galestro (clay schist) and Alberese (limestone) and encourage the vines to grow deep roots, promoting complexity and longevity in the wines.

The estate is certified organic, and Giovanni now follows biodynamic principles to obtain the best quality fruit.

As president of the Chianti Classico Consortium, Giovanni champions Sangiovese and is currently overseeing a project aimed at identifying, recognising and highlighting the different expressions of this grape in the various ‘comuni’ within the region.

‘Flaccianello’, made from a selection of the estate’s best Sangiovese, is fast becoming one of Italy’s most sought-after wines. It is powerful, fleshy and ages beautifully. ‘Flaccianello’ is produced from the best grapes from the best parts of the Fontodi vineyards, located on the top of a hill at 480 metres of altitude. The soil here is classic 'galestro', the schistous clay on which the Sangiovese grape produces its best results.
After picking, the grapes were carried to the Fontodi winery and carefully selected on sorting tables. Fermentation and maceration lasted for at least 21 days in temperature-controlled stainless-steel tanks. The cap was punched down twice a day during fermentation, which reached a maximum temperature of 30ºC. The wine was then racked into 80% new French oak barriques for 18 months before being blended and moved to 25,37 and 50-hectolitre oak casks for another six months prior to bottling.

"The 2018 Flaccianello della Pieve is another stellar wine from Fontodi. It is the richest Flaccianello ever made (in terms of dry extract), with elevated acidity that trails the 2016 by just a touch, but it does not taste like that at all. Dark cherry, violet, lavender, spice, mocha and graphite build with a bit of time in the glass. Like the Sorbo, the 2018 Flaccianello is not a wine of size, as in most previous years, but rather a wine that exudes vibrancy, energy and class from start to finish. I absolutely loved it" A.Galloni 100 points

2018 Vintage Report
The 2018 spring in Tuscany brought regular precipitation and comparatively cool temperatures. The summer saw temperatures within the average, but with an increased level of precipitation that ensured that there was no stress for the vines. Maturation was slightly delayed and the relatively humid conditions during the summer required a lot of work in the vineyards to preserve the healthiness of the grapes. In September and October, the weather was beautiful: this meant that the early ripening areas (and the producers that rushed to harvest) made wines that tend to be lighter and somewhat thinner in style. Those that could delay picking managed to gain enormous benefits from the September and early October conditions with almost unprecedented diurnal temperature differentials that helped the development of an impressive structure and elegance while preserving acidity and therefore balance.