Ampeleia, 2019 Cabernet Franc, IGT Toscana (Maremma), Italy
The winery was established in 2002 by Elisabetta Foradori and Giovanni Podini when they purchased an existing farm in the hills of the Alta Maremma near the village of Roccatederighi. They immediately brought on Marco Tait to manage the vineyards and winemaking. Marco is a native of Trentino and he worked his first vintage at the Foradori estate in Trentino.
The estate spans 120 hectares, with about 35 hectares of vineyards. And of those 35 hectares, about 8 - that's about a quarter of the estate - is planted with Cabernet Franc. Now I'm sure you can sense my excitement and curiosity when I find out that there's a winery in the hillsides of Tuscany with this sort of commitment to Cabernet Franc. And it turns out that these vineyards, here at Ampeleia have been planted to Cabernet Franc since the early 1980s, when the farm was owned by a Swiss couple. And the variety has thrived in the unique conditions here in Roccatederighi.
So, where is exactly are we here in Tuscany. Maremma is huge region that spans the entire province of Grosetto in southern Tuscany. The region spans over 4500 km2 (that's about 1700 sq miles) and has 8770 hectares under vine. So you can imagine there is huge variability in terms of microclimates. So, to drill down further, the municipality of Roccatederighi is in the Alta Maremma, which is the in the northern part of the region, and more specifically in the Colline Metallifere Grossetane, which is a sub-zone of the Alta Maremma. We're about 30km east of the Tyrrhenian Sea, and as a point of reference, the region of Bolgheri is about 40km to the northwest.
So, we're situated at exactly 43N latitude, so quite a southerly latitude for Cabernet Franc. So what are some moderating influences here. Firstly, we have the strong influence of the Tyrrhenian Sea. There are also constant cooling breezes funnelling down from the north in the Farma Valley. The vineyard where they have chosen to plant the Cabernet Franc, which is called La Rocca, it situated in an amphitheatre with south-southeast exposure at about 450-500m above sea level, so altitude gives a good diurnal range in temperatures, so warm days and cool nights. Finally, the area receives a relatively high amount of rainfall, nearly 1000mm of rainfall per year - which is good for Cabernet Franc, as it doesn't respond well to drought stress.
So we have all these moderating influences from the sea, the cool breezes from the north, good diurnal range in temperatures, a good amount of rainfall - so, all in all, I'd say a pretty happy microclimate for Cabernet Franc. So what about the soils? In general, we are in deep, mostly clay soils - both in the topsoil and the subsoil. The topsoil is marked by two kinds of rocks, one is a schistous rock known locally as
and also a calcareous rock known as rocce di palombini. The stoniness of the topsoil will aid with drainage, and we have the impact of clay which helps to keep the humidity, which is good during the warmer summer months when there is lower amounts of rainfall.
This wine is coming from a 2ha parcel of vines planted in 2004. The vineyard is farmed biodynamically. The fruit is hand-harvested, and most of the fruit is destemmed, but they do keep about 15% whole cluster. Fermentation is done with indigenous yeast in concrete, and it spends about 2 weeks on skins, with one pump over per day. The wine is then racked off the skins and ages in concrete for about 10 months before bottling.
Key wine wine facts below:
Producer: Ampeleia
Region: Tuscany (Maremma)
Appellation: IGT Toscana
Sub-region: Colline Metallifere Grossetane (Alta Maremma)
Municipality: Roccatederighi
Soils: heavy clay topsoil and subsoil, with schistous and calcareous stones in the topsoil
Alcohol: 12.5%
