San Giusto a Rentennano Chianti Classico Riserva ‘Le Baroncole’ 2021

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

About San Giusto a Rentennano

San Giusto a Rentennano, originally a monastery fortified in 1204 by the Florentines as their boundary with Siena, today uses the underground vaults built as part of the fortification as their cellars. For centuries it was owned by the Ricasoli family of neighbouring Brolio, passing to the Martini di Cigala family in 1957. This beautiful 160 hectare estate, with 30 of vineyards, is run by brothers and sister team of Francesco, Luca and Elisabetta. The vineyards enjoy exceptional exposure with considerable day and night temperature differences and the terrain is composed of various soils rich in minerals.

San Giusto’s wines are renowned for their elegance, balancing rich fruit and beautiful aromatics with superb freshness. Chianti Classico shows great purity with bright red fruits and floral notes. Le Baroncole, a Riserva selection aged for 16-20 months in barrique, has dark cherry fruit, flowers, spice and liquorice. Percarlo, the estate’s flagship wine first made in 1983, is a selection of Sangiovese from across six cru vineyards that form the best expression of the terroir of San Giusto. Multi-layered with rich dark fruit supported by firm tannins and beautifully integrated oak, Percarlo is a powerful wine that cellars well for up to 20 years in the finest vintages. La Ricolma, one of world’s great Merlots, is typically silky with rich plummy fruit and a distinct stamp of ‘Tuscanness’.

Finally, Vin San Giusto is one of Tuscany’s finest Vin Santos. Made mostly from Malvasia with 10% Trebbiano, the grapes are dried on racks for approximately 140 days before being pressed into six small chestnut barrels for six years. Concentrated and complex with fig, toffee, salted caramel, prunes and spice, the palate goes on and on. This is one of Italy’s must try before you die wines, unfortunately our allocation is just 24 bottles.

In the Vineyard

The estate is comprised of 160 hectares, situated at an average altitude of 270 meters above sea level. 31 hectares are planted in vineyards, 11 in olive groves, 40 in woods, 78 in cultivated and grazing lands. The terrain is composed of various soils rich in different mineral components, sand, clay, lime, alkali, argil and calcium. The microclimate is characterized by considerable day and night temperature differences and often heat during harvest time. All the vineyards enjoy exceptionally favourable exposure. During the months of July and August, we thin-out the natural growth of grape bunches by 30-50%, a practice called “green harvesting ,” which encourages the full and perfect maturation of our grapes.

Our farming methods remain largely manual and exclusively organic certified.

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In the Winery

That first bit of kit in the pic’s below is a seriously expensive destemmer. Having one is sign that a winery is intent on working gently with the fruit and is prepared to spend coin to build divine mouthfeel and tannin profiles. You can see one in operation in this Wine Bites Mag article “Winemaking Excellence – Fruit Sorting & Destemming at Yabby Lake with Tom Carson”.

Chianti Classico red wine D.O.C.G.

Grapes: Sangiovese 95% – Canaiolo 5%

Harvest: from 20th to 26th September 2018 and from 8th to 11th October 2018

Yield per vine: 1,4 kg

Length of fermentation and maceration on the skins:13 days

Wood-ageing: 11 months in oak barrels and casks of 100- 30; 5; 2,25 hl

Bottled: from 13th to 19th February 2020 and from 12th to 17th March 2020

Analysis: Alcohol: 14.5% Sugar: <1g/Lt Acidity: 5.35 g/Lt Volatile Acidity: 0.50g/Lt Net extracts: 30.3 g/Lt pH: 3.48 Sulphur: less than 100 mg per liter as required by organic laws.

The 2020 & 2021 Vintages at San Giusto

Luca Martini di Cigala presented a superb set of wines. The 2020s are stellar. It was not an easy vintage, though. There is no Ricolma. An unexpected and sudden rise in volatile acidity required a level of intervention the estate did not want to undertake, so the 2020 was not bottled. In tasting, the 2020s are brilliant, with an unforgettable Percarlo leading the way. The 2021s, which I tasted from barrel, might turn out to be even better. “In 2020, we started to see some dehydration on the vine in well-draining sites, so we moved harvest up by five days,” Luca Martini di Cigala explained. “Our harvest took place from September 16 to October 6, whereas in 2021 we started on September 22 and finished on October 15.”

As always, most of the focus here is on the vineyards, while winemaking is decidedly minimalist. Fermentations are done in cement with indigenous yeasts, with the exception of Ricolma, which is now fermented using commercial yeasts, a measure taken to avoid a repeat of 2020, when the wine was inadvertently ruined. Malolactic fermentations are completed by the end of the year. The wines are then racked and moved into oak at the beginning of the following year. Most of the wines see 18-20 days on the skins, but that can grow to 35-40 for Percarlo. The Chianti Classico is aged in cask and/or neutral oak, while the Baroncole and Percarlo are aged in a mix of French oak and cask, while Ricolma is raised entirely in French oak.

Antonio Galloni, Vinous

Where in the World is San Giusto?

San Giusto is in the Gaiole within the Chianti Classico sub-region of Tuscany.