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Fumino 2015, San Donatino
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**Please note that it is totally normal for this wine to not have the foil or a seal at the neck of the bottle - the cork will look semi-exposed. It comes directly from the winemaker like this.
Winemaker Notes
San Donatino started their journey towards organic certification in their vineyards in 2012, allowing the natural characteristics of the territory to shine through. Located around 420 meters above sea level, facing south west on the Val d'Elsa in the Chianti Classico area, their Fumino 2015 Tuscan red is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon.
Only copper, sulfur and other products compatible with their Bio certification are used on the vines, with green manure from legume plants used as fertilizer. After the grapes have been hand picked, they are macerated on the skin for about 3 weeks. Traditional vinification with daily pumping, along with spontaneous yeast fermentation and no temperature controls. The wine is rested on the lees for around 6 months, before being aged in oak barrels for 12 months, then steel for another year. Finally, the Fumino 2015 is aged in the bottle for around 6 months.
The Story
While on our 'Under the Tuscan Sun' tour, if you will, we ended up in Castellina in Chianti at that quintessential Tuscan villa and farm with all the characteristics you’d expect to see on the postcards from the region - rolling hills of vines, Tuscan Cyprus trees, the farm house with a terrace, huge rustic wooden outdoor table set for the 4 generations of the family who would join us at an overly copious lunch.
Matteo, son and winemaker, leads the conversation even if he says one thing he struggles with is describing wine - ‘I’m not like my father’. He’s referring to Lou Ferré - a famous French poet and singer, his father - who decided to uproot his life in France in 1974 for that which Frances Mayes, Bernard Berenson and a myriad of others have sought in these noble hills.
Naturally, the Tuscan conversation takes a turn for France, when Matteo criticizes Sassicaia and the majority of Super Tuscans (somewhat ironic when you’re at a table where we are drinking one of the purest expressions of Chianti Classico beside Fumino, a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, aka a Super Tuscan). ‘But my father was French and he was planting these French grapes here far before the others followed the trend’. Needless to say, it felt sincere as the conversation flowed effortlessly in French and Italian, as the wines poured flowed from Chianti to Bordeaux (the cellar of Maria, wife of Lou, was a treasure chest of French wines).
For those of you who ask, we have some issues with Super Tuscans. Not because they aren't good - but because Italians are traditionalists and their argument is if we've been making a quality wine here from Sangiovese and other native grapes, why on earth do we need the French ones?? Especially when those grapes are planted in more than 50% of the world! So, IF we are going to put one in, first of all you have to know it absolutely wowed us, and in this particular case, a 100% Cabernet doesn't seem like treason coming from a French family...
