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+--- Thread: Carmignano wines (/thread-7362.html)
- TY - 01-05-2003
Our wine club topic this month is reds from Central Italy, specifically, Carmignano. We've read that sangiovese is the main grape from that area - any suggestions on good wines from that region for about $20? Thanks!
- eskinnyc - 03-25-2003
Wines from that region come in an expensive DOCG as well as a cheaper "Barco Reale" DOC (I think it translates as "Royal Property", based on some 17th Century designation. Anyone an expert in Italian history?).
The mix is 85% Sangiovese and 15% Cabernet, which I've found produces a fuller, richer wine than a comparably priced Chianti.
While I haven't tried the DOCG varities, I've tried both the Capezanna (sp?) and Ambra Barco Reales, and they're both very good. Both run around $13. Either producer is probably a safe bet for a more expensive label.
Good luck.
- scimmiatinit - 03-26-2003
Carmignano di Piaggia & Carmignano di Capezzana are a must !(though very expensive in Italy too!)
- scimmiatinit - 03-26-2003
Some years ago, the grape growers of Carmignano and Poggio a Caiano in the province of Florence decided to give up the Chianti denomination for their wine and to obtain their own designation of Carmignano.
The request for the new denomination was approved in 1975 and the revised DOC regulations took effect the same year.
The first citations of a Carmignano wine go back to the 14th century. A document drawn up in 1369 shows that Carmignano cost four times as much as any other wine in commerce in that period. In 1716, Tuscan Grand Duke Cosimo III de' Medici issued a decree in which he established production standards and controls over sales, to be applied by the Congregazione di Vigilanza, that were intended to prevent fraud. The edict clearly represents the first Italian wine discipline. Two-and-a-half centuries later, the edict's terms were reapplied in setting the boundaries of the new Carmignano and re-establishing the Congregation. The organization has as its object the oversight and promotion of the ancient Carmignano denomination of origin within the area first delimited by the edict of 1716.
The statutes of the Congregation, containing 35 articles, place special importance on controls to be applied in planting vines and on quality checks to be made on the grapes at harvest time and the musts and wines in the wineries before bottling.
Production entities: 18 producers.
Number of hectares inscribed: 112.
Maximum possible output: 6,904 hl.
Amount produced: 3,867 hl. (Vin Santo 125.70 hl.).
Professional Associations: Congregazione del Vino Carmignano, c/o Fattoria di Bacchereto, 50040 Bacchereto FI - Tel. (055) 8717191/2717060
Date founded: 1975.
Production zone: the hilly terrains of the communes of Carmignano and Poggia a Caiano in the province of Florence. Only hilly vineyards with appropriate slopes and exposures, which are situated at altitudes of no more than 400 meters and whose soils are derived from marly limestone of the albarese type and clayey (Cocene) and sandy (Oligocene) rock schists are considered suitable.
- scimmiatinit - 03-26-2003
Barco Reale is not just a wine... it was once an important "natural reserve" wanted by the famous MEDICI family from 1626 until 1772.
Both Carmignano and Barco Reale have Cabernet and this grape has been introduced since the first denomination was established not like Chianti where Cabernet(and Merlot)is(are) recently arrived (so a modification..) wanted by many producers to internazionalize (may I say that?) their wines !
In this sense we can say that Cabernet is part of the story of Carmignano wines and always affected their style !
- Thomas - 03-26-2003
Grazia, Fabio, mille grazia...buono scrive.
And don't correct my Italian--please!