Through Françoise, a geologist I worked with when I started Fanciulle, I met Rémy, the oenologist for some of the finest wine estates in the Côte d’Or and a rigorous, brilliant wine taster. He can, I have seen over the years, dissect a wine’s flavors, aromas or texture into its distinct components and tell you […]
Tuscan cuisine is ostensibly simple: a few, fresh ingredients, combined quickly and served casually. And yet, “Things are so black-and-white in Tuscan cooking,” says Fanciulle winemaker, Jem Macy. “The rigidity at the backbone of Tuscan meals is ridiculous.” Only perfectly-honed habits can explain how well people eat in a region where there is no “haute
Pomarola: The Essential Pasta Sauce Read More »
Since the 2022 wines finished fermenting in October of that year, and I first tasted them, they have seemed different. As always, the grapes were destemmed and put into small tanks; during fermentation, the sugar in the grapes was consumed by the yeast on the skins and turned into alcohol. Then the wines were racked
Yesterday, the Italian holiday season came to a close with the Feast of Epiphany, the last in a long line of family get-togethers and rich meals. For a while, at least, the days of prescribed dishes (tortellini in broth for Christmas, lentils for New Year’s, etc.), multi-course meals and tables of hungry relatives are over.
Fanciulle Inspires: An Easy, Elegant Tuscan Supper Read More »
The following is the first in an occasional series visiting Fanciulle wine in the homes of the people who drink it. Who: Caitlin Macy, sister of owner-winemaker Jem Macy Where: New York, USA Years Drinking Fanciulle: Since the first vintage in year 2019. In Italian, fanciulle means young girls or young ladies, a word that
A Glass at Home: Caitlin Macy Read More »
Valerie Stivers and Hank Zona are taking over the blog today to share a pick-of-the season autumn recipe to pair with Fanciulle wines. We are thrilled to offer their perspective on this fall pairing which brings together the best of seasonal Tuscan ingredients and our wines. Read on for their discussion of how each ingredient
Duck, Duck, Radicchio Read More »
After much-needed spring rains, the threat of disease loomed over the early part of the growing season, requiring the judicious use of copper to protect the young leaves. In July, the weather settled into a stretch of dry, sunny days, culminating in perfect harvest conditions of bright, breezy days and cool nights. The grapes have
Highlights of Harvest 2023 Read More »
Excerpts from a recent interview with Jem Macy, Founder of and Winemaker at Fanciulle Vini WHAT IS YOUR BACKGROUND? I grew up in Groton, Massachusetts, a New England, apple-farming town northwest of Boston. I attended an all-girls day school, Nashoba Brooks, which, along with my parents’ innate feminism, provided the seeds of my entrepreneurial spirit.
Meet the Winemaker Read More »
Alessandro came to the vineyard barefoot and walked up and down the rows of decades-old vines with me, tasting grapes the way the pros do, munching and then spitting out the skin. It was mid-September, a few days before the harvest, and we were trying to decide which vines to clone based on how evenly
Going into the 2022 harvest, I was hopeful: my faith in the capacity of the old vines in my own vineyard to produce flavorful, evenly ripened grapes in increasingly extreme weather was proving well-placed. Furthermore, I had contracted to buy grapes from a vineyard that stood on what I believed to be the best kind
