San Giusto a Rentennano

The history of this exceptional vineyard is extraordinary even in Tuscany, which is now truly not poor in history. The name San Giusto a Rentennano testifies to its Etruscan origin. The oldest part of the splendid property was a monastery in the Middle Ages, first mentioned in 1204, later converted into a fortress whose towers and battlements still dominate the hills of southern Tuscany near Gaiole in Chianti.

In 1957 Enrico Martini di Cigala inherited the farm and concentrated on wine and olive growing. Since 1992 six of his nine children have shared the work: Elisabetta, Francesco and Luca Martini di Cigala manage the 31 hectares of wine and 11 hectares of olives from a total of 160 hectares of land, including forests, fields and abundant natural land. Since 2001 the farm has been gradually converted to organic farming, first the olive groves, then the vineyards - and since 2006 all the land on the estate has been certified. Organic farming is lived here. Power generation from solar energy, own composting, consistent waste avoidance and recyclable packaging. Simply exemplary.

The hills around Gaiole are among the most exciting growing areas in Tuscany because nowhere else are the geological conditions so varied. Every few hundred meters the underground changes, every few meters into the depth the vines root in different formations. From sand, loess and clay to volcanic rock formations, from calcareous soils to rocky rocks with argillites and calcium. Here one can actually speak of minerality. In addition, there is the unique, cooler micro-climate on the vineyards up to 300m above sea level, which are partly surrounded by forest and protected. During the day Mediterranean, warm breezes blow up from the nearby Tyrrhenian Sea, in the nights it cools down strongly by the wooded mountains. This interplay helps enormously to achieve the juicy fruit and a delicate and elegant structure of the wines.

Since 1999 the oenologist Attilio Pagli has determined the style of the wines, supported in the cellar by the fabulous Anita Anichini and in the vineyards by the agronomist Ruggero Mazzili. Quality is rigorously observed in the vineyards, at least one third thinned out and harvested relatively late so that only physiologically fully ripe grapes are harvested. The batches from the individual layers are carefully fermented separately in the cellar only with our own yeasts spontaneously. And although the lion's share of the red wines is Sangiovese (sometimes with a mini-portion of max. 5% Canaiolo), here is never pepped up with international varieties, and yet the wines are completely different.

Already the "normal" Chianti Classico differs from almost all others by its elegance. The Chianti Classico Riserva "Le Baròncole" is captivating with its fruit and depth and the already legendary "percarlo"A selection of the oldest vineyards with calcareous soils dating back to the Pliocene, the Sangiovese Sangiovese has been one of the best pure varieties in Italy for several decades.

Beside the dominating Sangiovese there are still small vineyards, which were planted with Merlot. The Merlot di Toscana IGT is made from these single vineyard grapes. "La Ricolma"who can easily compete with most Supertuscans. In a few vineyards, Malvasia and a little Trebbiano are cultivated, from which the rare sweet wine, which is sold out much too quickly every year, is made. "VinSanGiusto" is pressed. The grapes are dried for about 140 days before maturing in tiny chestnut barrels (40-180 l) for six (!) years. Almost 40% of the quantity escapes. This results in this incomparable concentration.

This unique style of the wines is reflected in the numerous international and Italian awards. And since there is hardly any well-known Italian restaurant that does not have the wines of San Giusto a Rentennano on the menu, there are unfortunately only very few bottles for the export. These small quantities are therefore always sold out quickly. SUPERIORE.DE