2010 La Porta di Vertine Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG
…preview presentation February 18-19, 2013 at the Chianti Classico Collection in Florence, Italy…
2009 La Porta di Vertine Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG
We only decide which wines will constitute our Riserva after all wines have been vinified, therefore, the same care and attention is given to all casks regardless of the different provenance of the fruit. We have an intimate knowledge of our vineyards and we know the best plots, so we tend to keep them separate during vinfication. It is essentially these superior plots that constitute the biggest part of the Riserva blend.
The Sangiovese for the Riserva was destemmed but not crushed and fermented without sulfur or addition of cultured yeast in cement tank. Due to the exceptional quality of the grapes, skin contact with the wine was even longer than usual, 70 days in total.
After this skin maceration period, the wine was put into cask and tonneaux where it remained on the fine lees until the following year in September.
Grape variety: Sangiovese
2008 La Porta di Vertine Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG
About the wine:
Made from the best selection of Sangiovese from The Vertine, Adine and Colle ai Lecci vineyards. Vinification broadly resembled that of the Chianti Classico, with very little handling and no addition of either sulphur nor yeast. The Riserva is not a vineyard selection but a cellar selection, in which the best wines end up in the Riserva blend.
After the grapes arrived in the cellar they were destemmed, but not crushed and led into concrete vats varying in content between 10 and 100hl. Fermentation is done by ambient yeast only and without temperature control. After alcoholic fermentation, the different batches of wines remain on the skins for up to eight weeks.
The philosophy behind the unusually long period of post fermentation maceration is to think of the tanks as a highly complex unity of skin, lees and wine. At first the skin contact is determinately extraction, whereas the following period is about the exchange between wine, skins, tannins and lees, adding richness and complexity to the final wine.
The wines are racked in large oak casks and tonneaux where it remains for a year on the fine lees, the long contact results in a denser, rounder mouthfeel. After a second racking the wines remain in cask for an additional 10 months. After the wine has been bottled it is estate cellared for at least another year before release onto the market.
Grape variety:
Sangiovese
2007 La Porta di Vertine Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG
About the wine:
The grapes, 100% Sangiovese, were harvested from Campacci in Adine and Conca d’Oro in Vertine with the same dedication and philosophy as explained previously under Chianti Classico. The fruit was of such high quality, with very ripe tannins, that Giacomo decided to ferment a tank with half of the fruit on the stems, whole bunch, while the balance was destemmed but not crushed. The fruit remained unsulphured and the alcoholic fermentation was triggered off by indigenous yeast. An unusually long maceration time up to 65 days.
After alcoholic fermentation the wine was racked off in Austrian oval casks of 500l as well as new and second passage barrique, where it remained without any disturbance for eight to ten months on the fine lees, followed by another eight to nine months in 25hl Slavonian oak cask.
After bottling the wine was aged an additional 12 months in the cellar.
Grape variety:
Sangiovese