In a Tuscan State of Mind

by Antonio Galloni

I continue to be amazed at the sheer diversity of wines coming out of Tuscany these days. While the big guns may still command the highest prices, the real attractiveness lies at the other end of the price spectrum. Tuscany’s finest wines under $25 were reviewed in Issue 190, but readers will find plenty of additional wines at friendly prices in these pages, including a number of alternatives to Maremma and Chianti Classico’s prestige wines. The sweet spot for fine, cellar worthy bottles in Tuscany is in the $50-65 price range, where readers will find plenty of wines with significant cellaring potential and the track records to back it up. The vast array of regional designations (DOC, DOCG and IGT) with their confusing and often overlapping regulations, plus Italy’s large number of indigenous and international varieties, creates a huge market inefficiency that savvy readers can exploit. Poggio Scalette’s Il Carbonaione, Castellare’s I Sodi di San Niccolò, Monsanto’s Chianti Classico Riserva Il Poggio, Felsina’s Chianti Classico Riserva Rancia and Fontodi’s Chianti Classico Riserva Vigna del Sorbo, all of which can be had for less than $65 full US retail, are all bottles that would sell for considerably more money if they were made in Bordeaux, Burgundy or Napa Valley, where producers have done a far better job in marketing their wines. This report focuses on the wines of Central Tuscany (Chianti Classico, Montepulciano, Cortona and environs) and Coastal Tuscany. I also included few wines from Montalcino that I missed earlier in the year.