2016 Podere Casaccia Canaiolo Toscana Rosso

Region: Tuscany < Italy

Grapes: Canaiolo

Vineyard/Cellar Stats: Demeter certified biodynamic wine; 40-50 year old vines on clay, loam + sand soils; fermented and aged in old oak and stainless steel; no temperature control; bottled unfined/unfiltered with zero additions; 13% ABV

Winemaker: Roberto Moretti

Another gorgeous wine from Podere Casaccia, a tiny family-run farm in the Scandicci hills outside of Florence, run by a doctor and his wife, whom I had the great pleasure to visit this summer. Roberto, who says wine “kidnapped him from his practice, tends vineyards of native Tuscan varietals alongside a grove of olive trees and flocks of geese, ducks and chickens. The wines are pure in their fruit character, and super clean, free of the defects that can plague a zero-added-So2 wine. Perhaps because Roberto is a physician, bringing that hygienic precision to his cellar, the wine has a refined elegance and purity about it – not a hint of barnyard, funk or rusticity – that you rarely see in zero-zero wines. This is 100% Canaiolo, an ancient local variety that is usually blended into old-school Chianti wines, and rarely seen solo. Bright and lifted, with high-toned red fruit and violets, and an intriguing vibrance, almost like an electrical current running through the wine. One of the top wine discoveries from this summer's Italy trip!