2018 Le Cinciole ‘Petresco’ Toscana IGT Sangiovese

VIN97 2018 Petresco is another stellar wine from Le Cinciole. Bright and focused, with striking explosive energy, it sizzles with tension. Black cherry, coffee, spice, leather, incense, lavender and plum all run through a linear, driving pure Sangiovese that is going to need at least a few years to come together. There is a ton of potential here, but readers will need to be patient. As always, the wines here stand out for a striking sense of translucency that is achieved through biodynamic farming, minimalist winemaking and patience.

Antonio GALLONI: This is an absolutely stellar set of wines from Valeria Viganò and Luca Orsini at Le Cinciole. Over the last few years the wines have gained in precision and nuance, and that has elevated them to the upper tier in Chianti Classico. Biodynamic farming and hands-off winemaking are the rule. The wines are vinified in cement and aged in a combination of casks and smaller French oak barrels spread across several tiny, cramped cellars. The move towards a greater use of larger format oak works so well and is one of the reasons recent wines have been so expressive. Le Cinciole is not a new estate, but the wines have, quite frankly, never been better. I was blown away by the quality here.

A fruitful combination of quality, tradition and landscape, in harmony with nature – this is what Luca and Valeria Orsini, owners of the Le Cinciole winery, have formulated as the most important goal of their work. The estate extends over 30 hectares at an altitude of 400 to 450 meters above sea level not far from the village of Panzano in Chianti Classico. Wine is grown on eleven hectares, some of which are located in the Conca d’Oro. An olive grove with about 1,000 trees occupies one-sixth of the total land area.

Since the purchase of the estate in 1991, the owners have invested a lot in the renewal of the vineyards with better clones. At the same time they have changed the cultivation of the vineyards to environmentally friendly methods. Since 2002 the farm has been certified according to the CE regulation for organic farming. Luca and Valeria have chosen to cultivate almost exclusively Sangiovese on their land. Both are convinced that “only this autochthonous variety can be true Chianti Classico”. The Latvian soils above a massive rocky base are particularly suitable for growing the dominant grape variety. In order to preserve the authenticity of the grapes, the vines are aged in wooden barrels to a lesser extent.