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Le Volute is an exciting new organic farm set in the rolling
Tuscan hills and overlooked by the imposing towers of San
Gimignano. Whichever way you look from this innovative project,
it is hard to think of a more picturesque and memorable setting
to pursue your love of the countryside and to create great
wines that reflect the distinctive landscape of a World Heritage
site.
The owner, Claudia Galgana, is just 32 year old, but took
over the family vineyard eight years ago, in 1995. She was
determined from the outset to develop it along the strictest
organic methods.
Following a year’s study in organic agriculture at the Villa
Demsidorf in Florence, under the tutelage of a leading Russian
exponent, she set about reviving and reinvigorating the small
family farm which at that stage consisted of just one 2 hectare
field of mostly sangiovese grapes which had been planted in
the year of her birth and a further hectare of olives. The
original field was also planted with a small number of Trebbiano
and the local Vernaccia grapes.
However, her plan was to revive the full ten hectares of
the farm, devoting half of it to vines and the other half
to olives. Three hectares, which had been occupied, partly
with olives and partly with tress and bushes was cleared,
mostly with her own hands to create a new planting of predominantly
Sangiovese grapes but also a small number of Merlot and some
more of the local Vernaccia grape. The planting, with the
new vines from Northern Italy and from Montalcino was completed
four years ago, and the vines produced their first grapes
last year.
In 2002, she finally produced her first wines from the vineyard,
that we regard as an outstandingly good, full flavoured and
full bodied Chianti, which shows promising signs of being
capable of improving with further ageing in the bottle. Production
though has been low, with just 100 cases or 1,200 bottles.
It’s a full bodied Chianti with an unusually high alcohol
level of 13.5%, which suggests it may get even better in a
year or two. Yet, the tannins are well balanced
Fine Wines of Italy have a few exclusive preview cases available
for Like the producer
For the time being, however, she has had to be content to
have her wine made by a neighbouring producer and viticulturalist,
Stephano Grandi at his “Canneta,” vineyard. The results, are
impressive, nonetheless.
What has undoubtedly slowed and indeed greatly frustrated
Claudia has been the continuing delays in getting planning
permission for a new farmhouse and cantina at the heart of
the farm. The local commune, no doubt claiming sensitivity
to the locality’s World Heritage site status has been repeatedly
reluctant to grant her permission and it has eventually taken
her seven painstaking years to finally get approval. She shrugs
in resignation, but does wonder whether it might have been
different if this had been an agritourism project. Work on
the building is progressing – the underground cantina in which
the grapes will be vinified is complete, as is the grange
where the oak barriques will be housed while the wine is going
through its ageing process. But, at the time of writing in
the spring of 2003, the farmhouse is rather further behind.
Already Claudia feels it is not large enough to meet her ambitions
for the vineyard.
Organic production is not easy and relies upon unusual methods
of fertilisation. In the spring, sweet peas, broad (or Fava)
beans and a large leafed clover abound between the rows of
vines and olive trees, but long before these reach maturity,
they will be cut and ploughed in to ground to create a rich
and nutritious mulch for both the vines and the olive trees.
The one area where Claudia admits that she is not entirely
organic is her weakness for cigarettes – and they’re not even
made out of organic tobacco.
Olive Oil production is also an important part of the developing
business – and here again high quality of organic agriculture
allied with a careful selection of Olive varieties is the
essence of a fine blended product.
Some producers feel that it is important to create a single
variety Olive Oil, but Claudia believes that mixing a soft
and sweet olive variety with a more bitter one, will produce
an ideal blend of fruit and flavour.
The three main varieties on her vineyard are : - moraiolo,
leccino and frantoio, which are picked by hand and cold pressed
to produces a pure, unfiltered extra virgin organic oil.
The result, we believe is a product which is full of flavour
and refinement and, yet is remarkably subtle and gentle on
the palate. It is an ideal olive oil for eating with fresh
ciabatta or even a French stick, plus a little bit of salt.
It would also be great for salad and other dressings, but
you might be wasting the best of a high quality product, if
you just cooked with it.
As part of developing her organic farm, Claudia also tried
to produce flowers in a greenhouse on the farm a couple of
years back while she was waiting for the new vines to mature,
but after all the back breaking work with the temperamental
plants, found that it was time consuming, and ultimately unprofitable.
Her plans for the future are now clearly focused on the vines
and the olive and as the new vines comes to maturity, her
direction looks more certain. With her determination undimmed
by delays she is now ready to press ahead with a substantial
increase in the production of red wine.
Although it is popular and distinctive local wine, Claudia
accepts that, as a white wine, the Vernaccia de San Gimignano
is a more difficult to do well. She believes that she has
to continue to expand her business, broaden her experience
before she branches out into this variety. It’s a challenge
that’s worth taking because the resulting wine, when the producer
gets it right, is yet another very impressive Italian white.
The first production from 2001 ran to just 2,000 bottles
– Fine Wines of Italy has some cases in stock and there are
still a few more left at the vineyard, which will be available
for a short time in the future.
If the first 2001 Chianti is the apprentice’s test piece,
then the skills already demonstrated there suggest that future
vintages will be even better and a memorable Vernaccia and
other fine wines can only be a few years away.
WATCH PODERE LE VOLUTE GROW WITH FINE WINES OF ITALY
We will be following the growth and development of Podere
Le Volute over the months and years ahead. This will be an
evolving story that will unfold on these web pages.
see Sant' Appiano
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