Exploring Tuscan Wine Country By Fiat Cinquecento

During a recent vacation I visited Tuscan wineries in a Fiat 500 car— known in Italy as a cinquecento (pronounced CHINK-way CHEN-tow). The word—rolling with alliteration—can apparently also add emphasis. The car is a mobile chunk of culture—compact and crammed with history, like the Italian Republic.

A Florentine winemaker named Paola, or Paolina (a diminutive or affectionate word form) drove us in her milk-white cinquecento (itself a diminutive and affectionate form of locomotion).

We moved from Florence to the Montalcino hills and then to Chianti Classico, and then southward to Maremma, north again to near Pisa and returned to the Chianti Colli Fiorentini wine region outside of Florence.

The foray’s common denominator was Sangiovese, a sort of Swiss Army knife of Tuscan grape varieties because it is both robust and versatile. ‘A chameleon,’ Paolina explained in her lilting Florentine accent. Wines made from Sangiovese can be earthy/tannic/fruity, or gritty/beefy/spicy or a myriad of other flashing combinations. If Sangiovese does not perform optimally, Tuscan winemakers sometimes tame any burly or tumbling characteristics by blending in juice from grape varieties common to France, whether typical of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhone or Jurançon.

The other common denominator was our Fiat 500 transport, a car model which ushered in the dolce vita (sweet life) of the 1960’s in Italy and was built to replace a car named topolino, which means—really—Mickey Mouse. Apparently dexterous with creating optimistic car names, Fiat also once produced an open air version of the cinquecento for beachside cruising, named the Jolly. Our version, dashboard crammed with a child’s stuffed pink octopus, appeared both sweet and jolly.

Since the late 1950’s when the original Fiat 500 first rolled out along narrow bucolic roads, the engine and door hinges have moved back to front, the weight has about tripled and the sound system has transformed from no radio and the sound of outdoor crickets to having a 320 Watt ‘audio experience’ with ‘high-definition touchscreen infotainment.’ Simplicity begone.

We finished drinking frothy morning mugs of cappuccino and soon drove along Strada Provinciale del Brunello lined with cypress trees, green ridges, rolling roads and red tiled roofs beneath cloudless skies.

Montalcino –

Fifteen minutes southwest of Montalcino we stopped at Podere Giodo—creation of renowned oenologist Carlo Ferrini, sort of to Italian winemaking what Monica Bellucci is to movies.

Our dusty cinquecento parked and ejected the gesticulating Italian winery owner Paola—una proprietaria di una cantina—and her thirsty American friend. We met Bianca, Carlo’s winemaking daughter, and her winemaking boyfriend Ricardo (with musically resonant last names of Ferrini and Ferrari).

We toured and tasted and raised eyebrows and gasped a little at the holy communion of sipping down seductive glasses of Brunello di Montalcino—the region’s 100% Sangiovese wine known for earthy succulence and elegant flavor.

Giodo includes eight clones of Sangiovese growing beside thick forests on three hectares (7.5 acres) of vines at elevations between 300 and 400 meters (1,000 to 1,300 feet). It produces 15,000 shiny bottles of Brunello di Montalcino wine each year. The newly constructed winery includes double walls to control temperature, gravity fed processes, a rooftop coated with Mount Etna gravel from the company’s Sicilian operation and a sliding mobile arm that punches down grape caps in open tanks.

Tasting Notes from Giodo –

Podere Giodo. La Quinta. Toscana. IGT. 2020. 95 points.

Searing, superlative and commanding aromas of red plums and red cherries and Bourbon chocolate biscuits—deep and deliciously elegant. In the mouth, clear acidity, the flavor of red plums with solid tannic structure and a lingering finish. Try pairing this with a truffle risotto.

Podere Giodo. Brunello di Montalcino. DOCG. 2017. 97 – 98 points.

The color of brick and Amarone. One sniff of these aromas of orange, sandpaper, plums, figs, mocha and a slice of eucalyptus and you are smitten. Saturated with emotional pleasure, there’s no escaping seduction from this glass. Flavors include caramel and cherries and figs in juice with zinging acidity and textured but subtle tannins. Pair with a shish kebab skewer that includes pineapple slices to match the acidity.

Off we zoomed again, tuning the car radio to the subasio station—named after an Umbrian peak near Assisi. The song was Palla Al Centro—meaning ‘ball in center field,’ or—time to play. Appropriate for exploration.

We pulled up to the iconic Biondi Santi winery, named after the previous owners—a strong family laced with huge personalities, gargantuan dreams, olfactory finesse and cyclically grand changes of fortune; they began making Brunello di Montalcino wine (100% Sangiovese) in 1888, and had the intelligent curiosity to a search for (and find) molecular vine clones capable of gracing wine with supple taste.

(I met Jacopo Biondi Santi at his Maremma estate years ago, dining below hand blown glassware chandeliers imported from Venice at a huge oak table while eating wild boar meat and sampling stunning vintages; ‘legendary experience’ would be an understatement.)

Today Biondi Santi is owned by a French company run by Christopher Descours, who retains estate traditions and avoids digressing far from Tuscan roots in producing 90,000 bottles annually.

‘The concept of time is always before us’, said Lene Bucelli as she showed us the property—27 hectares (67 acres) on five sites, chosen because of altitude and soils.

The new owners, using thermoelectric scans, identified vineyard soil types and then overlaid this with a vegetation map. They next drilled pits to identify relationships between soil types and vine roots to better understand the building blocks of vineyards. From the results of this analysis they selected a dozen vine parcels to harvest separately.

Intriguingly, sharecropper techniques used decades ago made it economical to intersperse olive trees with vines. A recent university analysis of soils from those same sites shows this same land includes optimal characteristics for eventually providing balance and variety in wines. What was economically expedient in past eras, in other words, turns out to be biologically beneficial today.

The wines are aged exclusively in large Slavonian oak. Surprisingly, a commanding and age-worthy Biondi Santi wine rarely exceeds 13.5% alcohol.

‘Americans like Brunello,’ Lene said. ‘We are trying to make people understand that they should not be afraid to open the bottles young and pair the wine with food. It gets the taste buds sizzling.’

Tasting Notes from Biondi Santi –

Biondi-Santi Tenuta Greppo. Brunello di Montalcino. DOCG. 2016. 95-96 points.

This wine was made by pushing maturation of grapes, and includes a tense equilibrium not typical from a warm vintage. Potent aromas of black cherries, cassis, minestrone and ample herbs. Multiple layers that include flavors of licorice, morels and—after five minutes in the glass—figs and mocha. This balanced wine with clean acidity is a meal in itself.

Biondi-Santi Tenuta Greppo. Brunello di Montalcino. Riserva. DOCG. 2015. 95+ points.

From a great vintage, this is made from grapes from the oldest vineyards where the September tramontana northeasterly winds help maintain aromatics. Deep aromas include wet forest, caramel, figs, ebony, teak, blackberries and red cherries—a hefty dark beauty. In the mouth flavors include plums, figs, some cumin and sage. Firm tannins. Consider pairing with ratatouille or a lentil pilaf.

Chianti Classico –

We next cinquecentoed (not just noun and expletive, but also verb) to Brolio Castle, belonging to the Ricasoli family—who have been associated with producing wine since the year 1141 and today own just shy of 3,000 acres (1,200 hectares—or about four and a half square miles). The property is slathered with oak and chestnut woodlands, hilly beauty and olive groves, as well as 240 hectares (590 acres) of vineyards. From the magnificent castle you can see 40 miles (60 kilometers) into the distance.

Baron Francesco Ricasoli is an affably dapper and precise man with liquid green eyes, scrupulous attention for detail and an appreciation for adventure (obviously—he volunteered to drive us across his family’s bounteous acres with himself as driver and Paola’s cinquecento as chariot). Away we jounced, touring and listening to the baron’s story of how Nazis occupied his family castle during World War Two. The commanding German offer, on departing, was ordered to shell the castle and transform it to a bucket of rubble. Instead, he ordered mortars fired right and left but never at the castle, which he lacked the heart to destroy. He was imprisoned for this refusal to obey orders, and began a penitentiary letter exchange with Francesco’s grandfather as the war dwindled.

Baron Ricasoli appreciates order (the wine stockroom is as clean as an operating theater) and community (today, third generation members of local families continue working with Ricasoli). His mind constantly clicks and considers the future (‘Yesterday I had a meeting,’ he said. ‘Because I want to cover our roofs in solar panels’).

Tasting Notes from Ricasoli –

Ricasoli. Roncicone Chianti Classico Gran Selezione. DOCG. 2019. 96 points.

From marine deposited soils comes this 100% Sangiovese wine with a generous set of billowing aromas, including earth, nuts, red plums, black berries and some tarragon. Balanced and generous in the mouth, this is a creamy and firm wine to begin an autumn main course with .

Ricasoli. CeniPrimo Chianti Classico Gran Selezione. DOCG. 2019. 95 points.

From grapes grown over fluvial deposited soils, this wine includes bounteous, layered and complex aromas. This 100% Sangiovese includes characteristic licorice and some Provence herbs, slurping juicy acidity, firm and broad-shouldered tannins and a finish that includes mandarins and some mint.

Ricasoli. Casalferro. IGT. 2018. 95 points.

A different Merlot because the aromas include earth, sage, black pepper and spice. A solid wine with sleek acidity and structured but rounded tannins that make it easy for pairing with food. Layers of black pepper, red and black fruit; easy and satisfying to drink.

[In Part 2 of this article—cinquecento moves to Ipsus and Siepi in the Chianti Classico region of Tuscany, then to Fattoria Le Pupille in the southern Maremma region.]