Wine: Felsina: I Sistri IGT (100% Chardonnay, barrique aged)

Tuscany

Tuscany continues to charm and enchant the world over while books and films are forever trying to capture the beauty and mystic of the region. With its rich history, art, music, food and wine, there is very little to disappoint. Chianti is easily the most well known of Italian wines while Brunello is considered one of the most prestigious. Yet, the wines of Tuscany have not always been recognized for quality and have just recently experienced a renaissance,
after years of being focused on quantity. The initial movement developed in Chianti in the early 1970’s has become a region wide effort that has brought forth serious focus on clonal selection, vineyard management, and winery technologies, allowing a progression in quality unmatched anywhere in the country. The growing success, while focused on the Sangiovese based wines of Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino and most recently, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano,
has spread to the entire region incorporating areas not understood even 30 years ago for their potential.
This phenomena of rapidly improving quality spread to incorporate wines that while not DOC were still considered of superior quality. The lack of an official status could not prevent the unofficial designation “Super Tuscan” from becoming part of the vernacular. As awareness increased, many of these wines achieved their own IGT or DOC status. Ironically, it is often misunderstood that Cabernet and Chardonnay have a long history within Tuscany and were
not introduced to satisfy international demand. Cabernet has been grown for over 250 years and while maybe not known by the Romans it certainly isn’t a newcomer to the region!
(Chardonnay dates back easily 150 years).
Roughly 70% of the production is red but one white wine holds its own in quality. The DOCG for Vernaccia di San Gimagnano was the 1st awarded to ANY wine in Italy. A historical grape documented in the 1200’s, the wines today provide the perfect counterpart to the nobile
reds of Tuscany.

Felsina

Founded in 1966 by Domenico Poggiali, this gorgeous estate with the ancient name (Felsina was the Etruscans’ name for this historic viticultural terroir nearly 3,000 years ago!) has gone from strength to strength in the hands of Domenico’s son Beppe, the latter’s brother-in-law Giuseppe Mazzocolin - general manager - and friend Franco Bernabei, one of Italy’s greatest winemakers.
Located in the southern segment of Chianti Classico, Felsina’s range of Classicos and Super Tuscans reads like the region’s honor roll. In fact, it was awarded Gambero Rosso?s maximum score of Three Glasses 17 times in 17 issues of the famous publication.
In 1995, Beppe Poggiali purchased another property within Chianti Classico, at Pagliarese (near Castelnuovo itself). Pagliarese’s very old vineyards -planted in the 1950s and ‘60s - made it possible to replant quite a bit of the original Felsina nucleus without impairing quality. Surface under vine totals 215 acres, at 380 to 420 meters above sea level.
The Felsina team is also behind Beppe’s third estate, located in the Chianti Colli Senesi appellation: Castello di Farnetella. Acreage here is 166, at altitudes ranging from 200 to 550 meters above sea level. Bernabei and Mazzocolin orchestrate production, which is bottled at Felsina’s historic nucleus.
After over twenty years of extensive research and clonal selection, the Felsina team has achieved an incredible combination of complexity, structure and power; of sheer magnitude and concentration, worthy of this fabulous terroir and mostly very old vines (planted in 1958/1982); and at the same time a soft, feminine seductiveness that is all Tuscan.

This 100% Chardonnay, barrique-fermented and barrique-aged, was praised by Wine Spectator as “the best white in Tuscany” (Oct. 31, 2003)! Full body, delightful pineapple, cream, honey and mango aromas, structured and cellar-worthy.
The wine’s name, “I Sistri” (“Sistra”: ancient musical instruments), was borrowed from an 1891 poem by one of Italy’s classic writers, Giovanni Pascoli (see image 2).
At the time, Pascoli was living not far from the Poggiali estates, writing some of his finest lines on nature and the Tuscan countryside.
The same poem has inspired the Pinot Noir from Castello di Farnetella, Nero di Nubi…

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