1999 Castello di Monsanto Fabrizio Bianchi Tinscvil

Castello di Monsanto is in the Val d’Elsa in Tuscany. The 175-acre estate was acquired in 1960 by Aldo Bianchi. By 1962 his son Fabrizio started making wine on the estate and in the 1980s the cellar and winemaking facilities were significantly renovated. The estate, still owned and run by the Bianchi family, is the Chianti appellation. Besides Sangiovese wines it also produces Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon-blended Super Tuscans. About 400,000 bottles are produced annually. Gambero Rosso has often awarded 3 Glass awards – the highest the journal gives – to the estate’s Chianti. Gambero Rosso’s reviewer writes: “We have grown accustomed to the consistently fine continuity of the wines, which are very land-rooted in character, without stinting on extremely sophisticated, precise execution.”

Piedmont’s name means “foot of the mountain” and it aptly describes Piedmont’s location near the Alps, just east of France and south of Switzerland. For admirers of Nebbiolo wines, Piedmont is Italy’s most exalted region, since it is home to Barolo and Barbaresco. Barolo and Barbaresco are names of towns as well as names of the two most prestigious Piedmont DOCGs. Piedmont, with 142,000 vineyard acres, has seven DOCGs and fifty DOCs, the highest number of DOCS in any Italian wine zone. Despite its relatively northern location, its sometimes cool and frequently foggy weather, Piedmont produces mostly red wines. The Nebbiolo grape thrives in this climate and in fact takes its name from the Italian word for fog, “nebbia.” With its rich buttery food, majestic red wines and complicated vineyard system, Piedmont is often thought of as the Burgundy of Italy. As in Burgundy, Piedmont vineyards generally have well-established boundaries, and the vineyards are often divided into smaller parcels owned by several families. Though Nebbiolo is considered the most “noble” Piedmont grape, Barbera is actually the most widely planted grape. Dolcetto is the third most common red grape. White wines in Piedmont are made from Arneis, Cortese, Erbaluce and Moscato. Though Barolo and Barbaresco are the stars of the region, the easy-to-drink, sparkling “spumante” and “frizzante” wines of the Asti DOCG are the most widely produced. There are also Piedmont Indicazione Geographica Tipica (IGT) wines that are often an innovative blend of traditional and non-traditional grapes. This relatively new appellation status was started in 1992 as an attempt to give an official classification to Italy’s newer blends that do fit the strict requirements of DOC and DOCG classifications. IGT wines may use the name of the region and varietal on their label or in their name.

Sangiovese/Cabernet Blend