Wineshark Wine Tasting - Torre alle Tolfe

La Torre alle Tolfe is located on the rolling hills towards Siena and close to the heart of Chianti region. It covers 100 hectares including vineyards, olive groves, arable fields, and forests. A certified organic farm, it produces wines and olive oils, as well as organic grains and produces, with also special corners dedicated to animals, a vegetable garden, and a herbs garden.

The estate traces its name back to the 7^th century when Tolfo dei Gricci, one of Charlemagne’s knights, built a watchtower here for the defense of Siena. The first written record of winemaking dated back to 1316. The current owner is the Castelli family, who started in 1950s when Luigi and his wife Lunella purchased the villa and surrounding properties and land. Now the fourth generation, Mania and Giotto, continue to live on the estate.

Today they have 13 hectares of vineyards, with the hilltop location (330m above sea level) guarantees good ventilation with dry microclimate, good drainage of soil, with high sand content rich in beach pebbles and oyster shells. Organic since 2003, the lack of pesticides and other intensive agrochemicals also mean a rich fauna and remarkable variety of wildflowers. There are measures to avoid soil compaction, putting emphasis to manage the grass to reduce erosion during wet periods, while avoid excessive water competition during dry months.

The dominant variety is Sangiovese, with other local varieties including Canaiolo, Colorino and Ciliegiolo, trained and pruned in Guyot system. The grapes are hand-picked separately at the optimum time of maturation, and with the arrival of Stefano Amadeo, their agricultural advisor, in 2017, the estate has invested in analysis of soils and biodiversity in vineyards.

To add to the strength, Giacomo Mastretta, renown in the world of natural winemaking, joined in 2018. Vinification takes place after highly manual harvest, using vitrified cement vats with no direct temperature control. Wood is used for some of the wines, notably French oak, but also some Italian chestnut vats of older tradition. The philosophy is to minimize the use of technology and chemicals, as it standardizes the wines, as well as avoiding filtration as it reduces expression of soil and vines. Each of the four traditional grape varieties are vinified separately.

There are six wines produced, including Chianti Colli Senesi, Chianti CS Riserva, Rosato Lunella, Ciliegiolo, Canaiolo and Colorino. Two organic Grappas distilled from Sangiovese are also made.

I have tasted the 2021 Torre alle Tolfe Rosato Lunella on 12 Sep 2022. The wine has a surprisingly intense nose for a rosato, showing good red fruit and sweet spice, and a special gingerbread note with some minerality, on the palate the wine it has good vibrancy, refreshing with some tannin, and decent concentration in flavours, finishing with a reasonable length. Personal rating: 90.