Montesecondo IGT Sangiovese

Sangiovese

Tuscany, Italy

In a previous life, Silvio Messana was a New Yorker. There had always been this beautiful farm in Tuscany outside of Florence where Silvio’s mother lived. They visited yearly. His father had planted vineyards there in the early 1970’s. Since his death, his mother looked after them and sold the grapes to a local négociant. In the mid 1990’s, Silvio’s mother was ill and his family decided to move back to be near her. By this time, Silvio had already developed a passion for wine in the United States. With the certain impossibility of finding an affordable rent in New York with three growing sons, Silvio and his wife Catalina decided to stay on after his mother’s death, turning the Chianti Classico farm into their home with a portion of the farm converted as a half-year bed-and-breakfast. Silvio immediately began working on the vineyards himself.

This is Montesecondo's largest production and always the first release of the vintage. Montesecondo comprises two separate properties: both are biodynamically farmed and both lie in the San Casciano zone of Chianti Classico. The original family vineyard, generally referred to as "Montesecondo", is lower-altitude, warmer, flatter and with heavier clay soils in the town of Cerbaia; the newer one, referred to as Vignano for the name of the tiny village, is up at 500 meters and is cooler, hillier and rich in limestone.