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In Stefano's opinion 2007 and 2008 were the best vintages. They produce about
80,000 bottles a year. The winemaker stopped in briefly, but since this was harvest
season she was a busy lady.
Castellare di Castellina
Another winery I visited this past October in the Chianti Classico region, that is more well known, was Castellare di Castellina in the town of Castellina. This winery has received a number of awards for their wines. I entered a small tasting area to taste the wines. Here my favorite was the 2008 I Sodi di San Niccolo, which is their super tuscan, but I had tried all of their chianti classicos and chianti classicoriservas. After the tasting I was fortunate to watch the workers putting the newly picked clusters through the destemmer and the juice and grapes were being shot through a tube to the tanks. This winery has 30 workers during the harvest time and it takes them about 6-7 weeks to finish picking their grapes. They make about 200,000 bottles and 85% of their production comes from sangiovese grapes.
By Jennifer Gentile Martin