Montepulciano
Poliziano
I visited Poliziano in 2007 in the town of Montepulciano not too far from Montalcino, about 30-40 minutes. Lots of drinking going on for my 2007 trip for sure. How can you not? Poliziano was started off in the 1960's. Everything is done by hand on their 250 acres estate. The owner, living above the cellars, at that time of my visit was just arriving back from the US and I toured with the export manager. The newer vineyards at that time were solar powered. Inside the winery they had two temperature controlled rooms in addition to the enormous vats where they produce about 600,000 bottles a year. There is a special parcel of land they have, called Asinone, where they only bottle the wine in years they feel produce high quality. They also produce Vin Santo, but not enough that they market out to the public. I picked up a bottle of their Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, but their newer plantings, a year old, of 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet were also very good.
Chianti
Vignavecchia
On my recent visit last October I stopped in at Vignavecchia in Radda. The workers were outside eating lunch when I arrived. TheWine Director, Stefano, was so pleasant and I tasted everything from their rosato, chardonnay, chianti classico as well as their chianti classic riserva, super tuscan and finished with Vin Santo. They were all very enjoyable. My favorite really was the 2009 Vigneto Odoardo Beccari, which is their Chianti Classico DOCG Riserva that was a blend of 90% sangiovese and 10% canaiolo. It takes the workers two weeks with 10 people to harvest.
12
Italian Wine:
My 5 winery recommendations in Tuscany