Producer: Azienda Piaggia

Classification: IGT Toscana

Type of Wine: Full-bodied to powerful red wine

Grape variety(ies): sangiovese

Closure: Cork

Country: Italy

Wine region: Tuscany

Winemaking: The grapes are handpicked and fermented for optimal extraction from the skins in small tanks. Only yeasts from the vineyard are used. The fermentation time is 18-20 days, during which the skins are regularly pushed to the bottom of the tank or the juice is pumped from below over the skins. Then the wine spends 3 months in French barriques, where malolactic fermentation takes place, while the wine is racked several times into new barrels to clarify it, after which it is bottled without filtering or clarification. The bottles mature for at least 6 months in the cool cellars of Piaggia.

Area information: Carmignano is a small wine-growing area of almost 200 ha in Tuscany, 20 to 25 km west of Florence. The Carmignano area has been highly regarded for centuries; as early as 1716, Grand Duke Cosimo de Medici established strict rules regarding the Carmignano area and winemaking in an official decree called the 'Bando'. In this small area, several dozen producers are active, of which about ten bottle their own wines. The soil contains a lot of limestone and 'galestro', a combination of slate and marl. Carmignano often contains a portion, up to 15%, cabernet sauvignon. It was Catherine de Medici, queen of France in the 16th century, who brought this grape to Carmignano.

Producer information: Azienda Agricola Piaggia currently owns 25 ha, of which 15 ha are planted with vines, the rest partly with olive trees. Mauro Vanucci bought his first plots of land around 1975, with the first production in 1991. Father Mauro and daughter Silvia Vannucci produce here, under the supervision of the talented winemaker Alberto Antonini, over 80,000 bottles annually, with an average yield of only 40 hl (!) per ha. All grapes are handpicked, only natural yeast is used, and there is no clarification or filtration. Very authentic wines, therefore, flavorful with great aging potential. The recently completely renovated cellar is built into a hill, allowing the wines to mature under ideal conditions. The vineyards are located at an average altitude of 250 meters above sea level.

Serve with: With robust roasted, grilled meat dishes of beef, veal, mature lamb and game, stews, risottos with intense mushroom flavors, spicy, hard and blue-veined cheeses.

Serving temperature: 18ºC

Other information: Pietranera, literally black stone, is the name of the plot from which the grapes for this wine come.