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At the #WinesOfItaly Blab before Christmas, Costanza Yael Aviv Castelnuovo-Tedesco, owner of the wine bar Uva Nera in Florence, was a guest. She talked about her wine bar and presented two wines and the producers behind them. The producers are Panizzi, well known for their Vernaccia di San Gimignano, and Vallone di Cecione, producing a Chianti Classico and Campo dell’Orzo, which is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese.

WineOfItaly Blabbing from Sweden

So while Costanza was at her wine bar talking about Tuscan wines, I was actually back home in Sweden for the holidays and blabbing from there. As you can see at the beginning of the blab, I had Amadeus, my friend Cecilia’s son, next to me. He had great fun, and he speaks English very well for his age. At certain points during the blab, I noticed the sound was delayed, so I sometimes talk and reply completely out of the blue because I didn’t hear very well.

Why a Wine Bar?

My first question to Costanza was why she decided to open a wine bar. Her first reply was: “…because I am completely mad”! Her more serious answer after this was that she decided to offer excellence at her wine bar by selecting genuine products from very small producers who can offer high quality without being too pricey.

Panizzi

With this in mind, Costanza chose to talk about the producer Panizzi this evening, because, in a critical period for Vernaccia di San Gimignano, they were able to elevate it and make it stand out, as well as revitalise a wine area that was on its way to falling into oblivion.

Panizzi produced its first Vernaccia in 1989. In those years, it resisted trends and the wishes of a more international audience in favour of maintaining the territory’s typical and unique traits. Even though they are working to preserve the territory’s uniqueness, they export 70% of their production. On their website, they list the countries they export to and, more specifically, the US states where you can find their wines.

At this point, there was a question for Costanza from one of the fellow blabbers:

What do you consider a small producer?

Costanza replied that according to her, a small winery is someone producing around 1000 bottles.

Returning to Panizzi, they are quite a large producer after all, producing around 300.000 bottles a year, but, as mentioned above, Costanza stressed that they are attentive to the territory’s unique traits.

Vallone di Cecione

The Vallone di Cecione is a small producer in the true sense, producing around 1,400 bottles a year. They are located close to Panzano in Tuscany, and it is a family-run winery. They have around 4 ha of vineyards and have been certified for organic production for a couple of years. Their oenologue is Adriano Zago, who, according to Costanza, has contributed significantly to the high quality of their wines. They produce a traditional Chianti Classico with Sangiovese and a small amount of Canaiolo. They are very small, and thus, they are likely not easy to find in other countries.

Another question from the fellow blabbers was whether Sangiovese Grosso is used to produce Chianti Classico here. So I replied that Sangiovese Grosso is mainly used for Rosso di Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino, Rosso di Montepulciano, and Nobile di Montepulciano. The Sangiovese Grosso (also called Prugnolo gentile) is a variant of the Sangiovese grape with larger berries, thicker skin, a darker colour, and greater ageing potential.

Costanza was very happy to participate and promised to return soon to discuss other local wineries and their wines during the coming month.

Next Tuesday, on January 12th, Valeria Losi from Azienda Agricola Losi, close to Siena, will be our guest, talking about their winery and the different wines they produce, mainly Chianti Classico. Hope to see you there!

Written by Katarina Andersson.