Alessandro came to the vineyard barefoot and walked up and down the rows of decades-old vines with me, tasting grapes, 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. Over the course of the prior months, I had […]
The Best Sangiovese May Be A Forgotten One Read More »
How a Forgotten Bottle of 1978 Inspired a New Approach to Sangiovese Talk about an awkward moment. It was 2009, and I had just started my first consulting project for a Tuscan winery. The new owners wanted to overhaul production. Over lunch at their restaurant, we tasted through their estate’s wines—blends of Sangiovese and international
Sangiovese’s Signature Read More »
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
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
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
The 2022 harvest was going to be more important than usual: I had convinced the owners of a small, high vineyard outside of Florence to sell me their grapes. In fact, they wanted to sell me their vineyard. I was tempted: 500 meters up, planted on well-draining sandstone slopes–one facing south and one west–the vines
At a brunch party a few weeks ago, a friend said: “Here’s a question I don’t get to ask many people: How was the harvest?” The party was in London, and the friend works in tech. In Tuscany, though, the harvest is the only topic of conversation from late August until Christmas, so I wasn’t
Whether for reasons of upbringing, experience or temperament, I am always striving—to think up and take on projects, formulate plans, aim for change; grow and achieve. As a little girl, I convinced my parents to redecorate my room, having it painted pale blue to match the canopy bed I cajoled them into ordering—the first transformation
Smelling the Roses Read More »
