Wine: Boscarelli: “Boscarelli” IGT (100% Merlot, wooden case)

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.

Boscarelli

The medieval hill town of Montepulciano is a little east of Montalcino, dominating the gentle landscape of southern Tuscany from its 1,985 feet (605 meters) above sea level. It is a tiny architectural jewel, with a higher density of arts per acre than there are inhabitants, and a long-standing fame as the home of poets and wines… The former thrived in Renaissance times; the latter star Vino Nobile, which luckily for us all is alive and flourishing to this day.
The very “nobile” estate of Paola De Ferrari Corradi (founded in 1962; first vintage: 1964) is located on one of the area’s finest crus, Cervognano, well known for its hallmark combination of elegance and power.
In the course of over four decades of winemaking excellence, Paola (flanked by sons Luca and Niccolò) has chosen the hard way: absolute rigor and loyalty to quality & terroir. This resulted in an unbroken track record of vintage-to-vintage consistency. If anyone can pinpoint just one property that led the way to making Vino Nobile a modern classic, that property is, without a doubt, Boscarelli.
Today, the latter includes 44.5 acres (18 hectares) under vine on the Cervognano hillside. Further acreage is in the pipeline, for Paola purchased a second homestead in Cortona, several miles northeast of Montepulciano. The long-term plan is to bring this second property’s vineyard surface to 25 acres - over and above the original nucleus.

This wine comes from select Merlot and Carmenère grapes of Boscarelli’s finest vineyard at Cervognano, and is released solely in exceptional vintages. The minor percentage of the Médoc’s sturdy Carmenère (somewhat similar to Cabernet Franc) is a novelty, from the 2003 vintage.

2003 Boscarelli, 91 points -Wine Advocate (Issue 171)

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