Wine: Marchesi Pancrazi: Pinot Noir Villa di Bagnolo IGT

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.

Marchesi Pancrazi

The story of this stunning Tuscan Pinot Noir from a fifteenth-century estate west of Florence, Villa di Bagnolo (property of Marchese Vittorio Pancrazi) is unusual to say the least. In 1975, 3,300 vines identified as Sangiovese were planted on the estate’s clayey/schistous/serpentine soil, on a low hillock (50-150 meters a.s.l.) particularly rich in iron (instrumental for Pinot Noir complexity). The grapes were vinified as Sangiovese, and anonymously blended into the everyday family wine. Then one day in 1989, an oenologist friend of the Marchese pointed out the “Sangiovese” was actually Pinot Noir — in fact, probably Tuscany’s oldest Pinot Noir vines! At this point, Vittorio Pancrazi decided to vinify it on its own, and naturally put his Bordeaux-educated friend, Niccolò D’Afflitto, in charge of the experiment. After over a year’s maturation in Allier barriques and six months’ bottle age, the experiment not only succeeded, it exceeded all expectations.
From 1989 to this day, Pancrazi, in synergy with both his winemaker and brilliant agronomist Paolo Mocali, has carried out in-depth innovations in the vineyard and in the winery.
In the vineyard: Today, the Pinot Noir vines on the estate, southerly exposed and covering 14 out of a total 173 acres, have been almost entirely renewed (albeit maintaining some 5% of the original, unidentified local clone), and planted even more densely than in the past (approx. 1,620 stocks per acre), with different clones that come straight from Burgundy. The present number of new variants is 8 (nos. 113, 114, 115, 521, 666, 667, 777, 943): top selections, some of which are so new there are very few specimens in Burgundy itself! Their painstaking orchestration adds dimension and complexity to the Pinot Noir of Villa di Bagnolo, and makes for an even more graceful, mellow style starting with the 2000 vintage.
Another innovation is the gravitational irrigation system for all vineyards, with natural water (very rich in iron) from a well in the hillside above the property, Monte Ferrato.
Besides the Montemurlo property, the Marchesi Pancrazi also own an even larger estate at San Donato: 1,285 acres, 37 of which are now under vine at 300-400 meters above sea level, on Mount Calvana’s alberese soil (a variety of compact, very fine-grained limestone), yielding the SAN DONATO and CASAGLIA reds.
Innovations in the winery: The most important of these regarded the duration of aging sur lie. Aging the wine on the lees for lengths of time
comparable to Burgundy’s causes a number of distinctive odors (leather, horse sweat, merde de poule), well loved in France but rather disliked in the rest of the world.
This prompted the team at Villa di Bagnolo to cut back on the duration of aging sur lie and eliminate the coarser lees early on.
Furthermore, the past year has seen the Pancrazi team implement a new, hi-tech method for temperature control during fermentation.

The unique terroir of Villa di Bagnolo enhances this noble variety’s characteristic harmony of components. Barrique-aged c. one year, the wine is a brilliant, violet/purple red in color, with intense, layered, mellow aromas and flavors of cherry, blackberries, plums, tobacco, licorice, vanilla, tea and mint leaves sustained by full body and outstanding persistence.

2004 Pinot Noir, 89 points -Wine Spectator (10/31/2006)

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