Piaggia Wines • Carmignano, Tuscany

by Gary Faust

It was an unexpected pleasure when Silvia Vannucci of Piaggia Wines dropped by the store. We were thrilled to meet her as she is the winemaker of this great Carmignano estate, which her father established in the 1970s.

Carmignano is a wine-producing region in Tuscany, just north of the beautiful town of Florence with a long and fascinating history. The wines are not as well known in the United States as their neighbors in Chianti, but they are held in high regard and are noteworthy wines of distinction.

This beautiful land has long been favored by nobility including the Medici family. The ultimate power family of Tuscany became even more so when Catherin de Medici married the King of France in the 16th century, becoming the Queen. As a wedding gift, the King gave cuttings of Cabernet Franc vines from Bordeaux to the family and thus began the tradition of blending Cabernet Franc into the bottlings of Carmignano. In return, the Medici family’s wedding gift was silverware. Up to that point, the royal court of France ate its food without utensils!

The wine was held in such high esteem that in 1716, the duke Cosimo III ruled the area should have special legal protected status, thus creating one of the world’s first wine appellations. As a point of comparison, the French AOC system was not established until the 1930s.

Carmignano is not a large appellation, with only 11 producers farming 500 hectares. As in Chianti, the majority of the grapes used in the red wine are Sangiovese, but the appellation of Carmignano mandates that the wine contain 10-20% Cabernet Franc. For anyone who has enjoyed Tuscan expressions of Cabernet Franc, you know it is not an herbal or spicy style common to some other areas where it is grown. Instead, it brings lush, ripe fruit with fine grained tannins. One could almost argue Carmignano is home to the original SuperTuscan wines with its inclusion of the international variety, Cabernet Franc. The wines are Bordeaux-like, which is not surprising given the maritime influence of the nearby coast and its clay soil.

The original three-hectare plot of land purchased by Vannucci’s father is ideally situated in a southwest facing amphitheater, which serves to uniformly ripen the grapes. Silvia’s father was originally in the textile business and made a little wine on the side for his family. He began giving wine as a thank you to some of his customers who immediately recognized the quality. Initially her father didn’t know much about winemaking, but the excellent terroir revealed itself in the high quality of the wine. The family began formally selling their wine in 1990 and immediately received praise from critics.

The family has been slowly adding land, but their vineyard holdings total only 15 hectares as they strive to maintain quality. The wines of Piaggia come only from their estate grown grapes, which are hand-picked with a focus on ensuring a high degree of phenolic ripeness. At the sorting table, strict sorting results in only the best grapes making the cut. The wines are then aged in French barriques before bottling.

Very little of the wine is made with even less making it to California. Only 300 bottles of the Carmignano Riserva are brought into California, while approximately 200 bottles of the Poggio de’Colli Cabernet Franc make it here. This is low-production, high quality stuff. The wines display amazing richness and purity of fruit and are a treat to behold. We decided to highlight three of our favorite wines that we are fortunate enough to have in our cellar.

Il Sasso Carmignano 2011 $35.98 [301580]

Deep, intense ruby red. Complex on the nose, reminiscent of Maraschino cherries, sweet spices, thyme and cocoa. Full and enveloping on the palate with an excellent balance of fruit, acid and tannins, and a persistent finish. This wine pairs well with mature cheeses, red meat and game. 

Carmignano Riserva 2011 $49.95 [303984]

The Carmignano Riserva is the flagship wine of Piaggia, showcasing a modern interpretation of Carmignano's Sangiovese base blended with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. This a selection of the best hand-picked grapes and subsequently the best barrels produced at the winery. This is regarded as perhaps the best wine produced in the appellation.

Stephen Tanzer 92 Points: “Deep, penetrating aromas of ripe black cherry and cassis complicated by cedar and graphite. Big, deep and rich, but with lively harmonious acidity framing and lifting the ripe red and dark fruit flavors. Finishes smooth and very concentrated, but with an element of gracefulness and refinement that is lacking in the Il Sasso vineyard. Owner Mauro Vannucci believes in harvesting the ripest fruit possible and Piaggia often starts picking its merlot grapes when others have finished harvesting their cabernets! Most of the grapes used for this wine come from the Piaggia vineyard that Vannucci bought in the 1970s from the nearby Capezzana estate. It's a fascinating old vineyard (the vines average roughly 35 years of age), where it's easy to recognize many old vines of cabernet (these are at least 50 years old) co-planted haphazardly among the rows of mainly sangiovese.”  

Poggio de’Colli Toscana IGT $64.95 [303894] 

This 100% Cabernet Franc based wine was recently chosen to receive a coveted Tre Bicchieri award for quality Italian wines by Gambero Rosso (Italy's most influential media group). Tre Bicchieri (“Three Glasses”) wines are deemed to be the best in Italy. The 2014 Tre Bicchieri award winners were selected from 25,000 wines produced by 2000 wineries. This Cabernet Franc is world class, displaying a soft, supple wine which is quite capable of aging.

Deep and intense ruby red with purple highlights. Complex aromas reveal violets, currants, mocha and licorice. On the palate, the wine is mouth-filling and full-bodied with well-integrated tannins, red and dark fruit, exotic spices and a pleasant earthiness culminating in a long finish. This is a delight to enjoy on its own or with a nice steak.