2004 Avvoltore Maremma Toscana Rosso

Owner Adolfo Parentini told me that due to the extreme heat of 2003 he sourced little fruit from the 15-hectare hilltop vineyard from which his top wine, Avvoltore, is usually made. Instead, he used predominantly sangiovese from a 40-year-old vineyard situated on flatter, less stony, clay-rich soil, where the older, longer roots were able to find the water they needed. "I picked my syrah on the 22nd of August, something unheard of here: we normally pick it in the second week of September." The '03 is a one-of-a-kind wine because the old vines have recently been since uprooted due to extremely low productivity. Parentini is a big believer in authentic Morellino, as well as the less well known Monteregio appellation (of which he is the Consortium's president), which he feels can give wines with aromatic character similar to Morellino but with bigger structure.