Wine: Villa La Selva: Vin Santo “Vigna del Papa” DOC (desert wine)

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.

Villa La Selva

This Renaissance estate named after the sylvan nature of its landscape (“la selva”) is beautifully situated southeast of Florence, and once belonged to the Medici family.
As early as the 1400s, this unique terroir nurtured noble wines for Tuscany’s élite. Today, it is property of Guya Carpini, flanked by husband Marco Patrizi.
Under the tutelage of Guya’s late father, Sergio, then of Guya and Marco, the past few years saw a monumental overhaul: huge investments were poured into new technology and higher-density replantings (over 4,000 vines per acre); the winery was reconstructed and expanded; élevage considerably lengthened.
The new generation will both continue this innovative impetus, and make it more
(1) focused and (2) visible:
1. The range has been streamlined to three products in order to maximize the impact of each.
2. Packaging has been renovated, albeit with a careful eye on maintaining image continuity – Villa La Selva’s signature fioritura and color, held in check by the new labels’ starker, monochrome backgrounds.
Guya and Marco mean business, and are quite equipped to curb, regulate and redistribute the estate’s immense energies and potential.

From choice Trebbiano and Malvasia grapes, withered, then soft-pressed and barrique-aged for 5 years.

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