Wine Le Ragnaie, “Fornace”, Brunello di Montalcino DOCG, 2015

Le Ragnaie, “Fornace”, Brunello di Montalcino DOCG is an organic dry red wine made from Sangiovese grapes grown in the “Fornace” vineyard, located in Castelnuovo del’Abate in the southeastern part of the Montalcino region, in front of the Monte Amiata mountain range. DOCG regulations require Brunello vineyards to be planted in hills with good sunlight, no more than 600 meters above sea level. This limit is set to ensure optimal ripeness and flavor of the grapes before harvest. Harvested when the berries reach optimum ripeness. At the winery, the grapes are carefully sorted on a sorting table, only the best bunches are selected. The wort is fermented and macerated in concrete vats with regular manual pumping of the wort for 25-90 days. Then the juice is separated from the pulp by soft pressing and placed in large Slavonian oak barrels with a volume of 25 hectoliters, in which the wine is aged for 36 months. The wine is bottled without filtration and pasting, with a minimum addition of sulfur. Vintage 2015 will fully reveal its potential in 2021-2036.

The wet, cold winter of 2015 in Tuscany gave way to spring with heavy rains. The soil has accumulated a good supply of moisture, which saved the vines during the sultry summer. Daytime summer temperatures were often very high, but fortunately the cool nights saved the grapes from the damaging effects of heat stress. The long-awaited rains came in August, but the hail that followed soon damaged the vines. However, the crops that survived, especially the Sangiovese vines, showed impressive results. The crop was harvested throughout September, yields were lower than usual due to the heat and hail. The wines obtained were generally excellent, with the best examples showing both great strength and elegance.