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UMBRIA – TOSCANA (14) … PANZANELLO
The Azienda Agricola PANZANELLO is located in … Panzano in Chianti (Firenze). This is the heart of the Chianti Classico area, just halfway between Firenze and Siena. The smoothly waving landscape with gentle hills and wide valleys, the olive trees, the vines, the cypresses, the terra-cotta colored buildings, the fantastic sunlight, the blue sky… all here is simply perfect, like an invitation to enjoy life even more than ever before. This feeling is very present at every single little corner of the azienda.
Andrea and Iole Sommaruga and their whole family are proud to be your host, to share with you their passion, their pride, their love for Tuscany, its wine and its great gastronomy. We were there on the day the recently restored wine cellars were officially inaugurated. Friends, family, clients, press, staff, crew … everyone was there to celebrate a brand new day in the story of this lovely family.
The Panzanello azienda (estate) extends about 110 ha. The owners live in the old villa inside the estate; the restored cellars and a cozy tasting room annex shop are adjacent. You can stay there too for a while, the ‘agriturismo’ apartments are really fantastic, and the big terrace where you can taste the wines, olive oil and more, is just a Tuscan interpretation of heaven! A healthy heaven by the way, the whole farm has been certified as organic in 1998. The olive oil is great, the (pink!) grappa is absolutely astonishing; the wines are very well made, modern with respect of tradition.
The Panzanello Chianti Classico is a very pleasant wine made from sangiovese with a bit of merlot. Personally, I would reduce the percentage of aging in French oak barrels; even if they are not new ones, it still dominates a bit too much the beautiful fruit of the primary wine.
The Panzanello Chianti Classico Riserva is made of sangiovese with a small percentage of cabernet sauvignon and merlot. I loved the nose of the 1997, very spicy, slightly oxidized (positively), still very fresh, fruity, floral and juicy, with good integrated oak and tannins. This wine has been aged for a longer time on 1 year old French oak barrels (18 months) and 12 months in the bottle. The result is a very nice wine, even though it has a little bit too much mocha for my own taste.
The Panzanello Il Manuzio Toscana rosso IGT is my favorite wine of this house. It is made of sangiovese and merlot, aged in new French oak barrels for 24 months and 24 more in the bottle. Young or old, this wine has everything in the right proportions: great fruit, sensual floral accents; soft, round and elegant on the palate, with a long, harmonious and well-balanced finish, thanks to the ripe and soft tannines.
The Panzanello grappa from sangiovese grapes is simply mind-blowing… The fantastic pink color of this grappa is really appealing and even exciting. The young grappa, aged for 5 months in French oak barrels, previously used for the Manuzio wine, is highly aromatic, very fruity, soft, smooth and juicy on the palate, with a lovely fruity finish. The only negative point of this grappa, is that you must be very lucky to be able to buy one bottle… No more than 600 bottles of this crazy little thing are produced every year. I really LOVED IT!
The informal lunch in the barricaia was absolutely delicious! Lots of Tuscan (and more) specialties, antipasti, ham, cold cuts, fantastic cheeses, pasta dishes, tasty meat and great desserts… We all really enjoyed it very much.
A fantastic place for organizing a great celebration… the barricaia!
NB: all pictures courtesy Azienda Panzanello
Warmest thanks and greetings to the whole Sommaruga family!
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