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 »
Tasting barrel after barrel of wine in the cellars of the Côte de Nuits in the late 2000s catalysed my understanding of wine. How could two barrels of Pinot Noir—sitting side by side, vinified the same way—taste so different? Were the differences due to the vineyards’ terroir or to the impact of the barrels themselves?
Is Barrel Aging Still the Gold Standard for Top Wines? 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
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 »
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
A New Wine Part 3 Read More »
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
A New Wine Part 2 Read More »
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 »
I spent this past Monday, a holiday known as “Pasquetta” or “little Easter” in Italy, with friends in Siena, chatting over a long lunch to which everyone had contributed: a winemaker friend of mine from Umbria brought two bottles from her estate and a loaf of their traditional Easter cheese bread, “crescia.” A neighbor brought
I like to say that the Fanciulle wines are Tuscan wines for Burgundy lovers, by which I mean that the Fanciulle wines have a delicacy and tanginess which, while natural (and, I think, the most delicious) expressions of Sangiovese, are not necessarily typical. I am also consciously using approaches to viticulture and winemaking learned in
What Makes Fanciulle Wines Special Read More »
