Monsanto - Toscana Rosso, Tuscany, Italy (2020)

TASTING NOTES

Aromatic herbs, incense, pot pouri, dusty red cherry, drying tannin. Classic and classy example of Sangiovese. 

Castello di Monsanto produce benchmark wines for the region from four vineyards: il Poggio, Scanni, il Mulino, il Salcio across 72 hectares between 280 and 320m above sea level enabling considerable day-night temperature variations.

Castello di Monsanto is located in Barberino Val d’Elsa in western Chianti Classico, a bit northwest of Castellina in Chianti. Aldo Bianchi, a Tuscan native, purchased the property in 1960, and two years later his son Fabrizio, who had planted new vines on the land, vinified the fruit from the Il Poggio vineyard at the estate separately; this was the first Chianti Classico cru. 

Castello di Monsanto Toscana IGT comes from the vineyards found on the southwestern part of the property where the presence of galestro (friable marl) is combined with a distinct concentration of tuff, a volcanic marine soil that releases fossils from the Cretaceous period over time. These soils, particularly rich in phosphorus, magnesium, potassium and limestone, give the wine elevated complexity and flavour, imparting the true integrity of the fruit and the wine’s crispness.