Brancaia Il Blu 2016

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

The wine is nowadays a blend of 70% Merlot, 25% Sangiovese and a splash of Cabernet Sauvignon (fermented with indigenous yeasts in conical steel vats and aged in new and old barriques for 20 months).  The fruit is dark, slightly sweet with aromas of black cherries and dried blackberries and the flavours deliver rich, soft intensity.  It’s full-bodied, but the mouthfeel is elegant, delivering lasting power, freshness and polished tannins.

About Brancaia

Winemaking

The two wine cellars of BRANCAIA (Chianti Classico and Maremma) are a further key factor to produce highest quality. The state-of-the-art cellars built on 3 storeys allow using gravity instead of pumps in order to treat the young wines as gently as possible.

The grapes are only picked by hand and after being stripped and squeezed go directly into the fermentation tanks without pumping, by gravity only.

Fermentation takes place in temperature-controlled cone-shaped steel tanks. We replaced the traditional pumping transfer of mash with a modern pestle. So here too the use of pumps is avoided. All BRANCAIA wines are aged for 12 to 20 months in small wooden barrels, cement or steel tanks.

The single grape varieties and single vineyard origins are vinified and aged separately – only shortiy before bottling the blending process takes place. Our constant focus on quality is finished off by bottling the wines under optimal conditions on the best machines for a safe and most enjoyable drinking pleasure on your table.

About Sangiovese

Sangiovese a red Italian wine grape variety that derives its name from the Latin sanguis Jovis, “the blood of Jupiter”. It can be extremely vigourous producing leaves the size of your head and bunches of similar size with large berries.

Where is it grown?

It’s grown throughout Tuscany in the sub-regions that make up the Chianti DOCG, where the Sangiovese Piccolo is the dominant version. Plantings in Montalcino making Brunello are typically of the Sangiovese Grosso version. We use the term version as there is some funky DNA floating around that doesn’t neatly fit into Variety or Clone. It’s a case of same same but different. You’ll find it in Sicily, Calbria and splashes around the world.

What does it taste like?

Generally lighter in colour, although as always there are exceptions.

There is an incredibly diverse array of flavours and aromas across the wines made from Sangiovese. This is true across both Chianti and Brunello wines. In Chianti this is influenced by blending with the native Canaiolo, and French varietes like Syrah and Merlot  You’ll find fresh flavours like sour cherry, shifting to dark fruits, earthy characters, florals, rich chocolate, spices and beyond. The perceived density certainly differs across the wine. Like most varieties the styles that can be made are incredibly diverse.

You’ll typically find higher perceived acidity in good Sangiovese.

The 2016 Vintage at Brancaia

The 2016 harvest began on August 18th in Maremma with the Merlot grapes for our Rosé, the newest label of Brancaia production, and ended on October 8th when the last Sangiovese grapes from Chianti Classico were in the cellar. As every year, the end of the harvest brings first a great satisfaction for the realization of a whole year of work carried out in the vineyards but at the same time, with the colors of autumn, a slight melancholy.

The year 2016 was characterized by climatic ups and downs. The mild weather of winter and beginning of spring brought an early sprouting; however the thermometer registered a sharp drop in temperatures in late April, luckily without damaging  the vines and merely stopping the plant growth. A particularly warm period, from June to August, followed to a very rainy May. If in the Chianti Classico this dry period was interrupted by a beneficial rain, in Maremma we have been for more than two months without a single drop of water. Thanks to the double fact of having plants no longer young and rather deep soils, our vines have managed water stress without problems. The month of September was marked, in the Chianti Classico, by continuous, unexpected rainy days. As always, in our work, it is necessary to adapt to nature: the conditions were perfect for the Maremma as well as for Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes in Chianti Classico, which reached very high levels of maturity and complexity. As for the Sangiovese we made a thorough selection of grapes, passing twice in each vineyard, and had at the end not only the desired quantity but also high quality .

Hard work and commitment have been rewarded: the levels of technological and polyphenolic maturity of the grapes are perfect and make us satisfied and happy. We now have everything we need to do a great job in the cellar.

Where in the World do these Wines Come From?

Chianti is a sub-region of Tuscany. Other sub-regions include Montalcino and Montepuliciano. Like Montalcino, Chianti covers a large area and is relatively poorly defined in comparison to the likes of Barolo.

As is often the case with Italian wines there is confusion created by an ever changing general classification system. In this case we have wines two basic designation. The first, the Chianti Classico DOCG for which you see a black rooster on the label or neck tie which come from a defined area between Florence and Sienna. The Second Chianti DOCG or greater Chianti region that surrounds the Chianti Classico DOCG which in turn is broken up into seven sub-regions as seen in the second map below.

Isole e Olena – Is in the Chianti Classico DOCG, sub-region Barberino Val d’Elsa to the west of Radda