The Peasant Art

“Producing wine is a peasant art, made up of patience and foresight of imagining the vineyard before planting the young vines and preparing for them a welcoming place, one where they will feel at home and live for many years, accompanied by the love, the care, and the patience of a special person: the grower-producer.”   …. Vittorio Fiore

Podere Poggio Scalette became an autonomous wine-producing estate in 1991 when noted wine consultant Vittorio Fiore and his wife Adriana Assjè di Marcorà acquired several plots of land and a rural building on the hill of Ruffoli, in the commune of Greve.   The vineyards lie on terraced slopes, called “Il Carbonaione” by the local peasants and were among the first vineyards planted immediately after World War I.  Today, at over 80 years of age, they are producing incredible grapes with intensity and character.   The estate is run by Adriana and her son Jurij,  while Vittorio casts only a watchful eye for oversight.

Cantina Podere Poggio Scalette

There is nothing more to say about the excellence of the 2015 vintage, so I’m just going straight into this review.

The 2015 Podere Poggio Scalette Il Carbonaione is superlative.   It’s deep ruby to violet color that is nearly a purple black at its core.  We took the bottle to a local Trattoria and so did not decant it.  Right from the start, the aromas of this wine were explosive. Massive ripe cherry, black plums, blue flowers, sweet tobacco and toasted fennel are simply out of this world.  Complex, delineated, harmonic.

On the palate, there is no let up.  This is an elegant, massive, powerful wine with loads of red and black fruits backed by sweet pipe tobacco, fennel, sage and earth tones.  Full bodied, round and ripe with luxurious tannins, refreshing acidity and mouth watering sapidity that keeps this pure Sangiovese fresh and lively. It’s hard to imagine a wine much better than this. The best wine I’ve ever tasted from Greve.  The best Carbonaione I’ve ever tasted.  A magnificent effort.  Value?  Yes, buy all you can find.  97 points.  About $49.  Find this wine.

A masterpiece from Vittorio Fiore

Salute!