A hand lifts a glass of red wine over a barrel head, next to a glass pipette with a drop still on it; barrels line the cellar behind.

Food and wine

Wine

Wine in Tuscany is not a drink. It is landscape, it is economy, it is identity, it is the collective memory of a territory that lives on the hills and grew up around the vine. The geographies of Tuscan wine are among the most articulated in the world: every zone has its principal grape, its terroir, its rules of denomination, its history. To drink a Brunello, a Chianti Classico, a Bolgheri or a Vernaccia is to drink four different Tuscanies, and to find a hundred shades inside each one.

Rows of vines cover the hills up to a stone farmhouse with a cypress-lined drive; olive trees and wooded ridges lie further off.

Where

Where it is practised in Tuscany

The geographies all matter. Siena holds within it Brunello di Montalcino — one of the great reds of the world, from pure Sangiovese, long aged — and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, also Sangiovese-based (here called Prugnolo Gentile). Firenze and Siena share Chianti Classico, produced in the historic heart between the two cities from Sangiovese and (historically) other complementary varieties. Livorno has the Bolgheri coast and the Alta Maremma, land of the Supertuscans: here Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc have found ideal conditions, and since the 1970s the great reds (Sassicaia, Ornellaia, Masseto) have changed the world geography of wine. Grosseto has Morellino di Scansano and lesser traditions. Lucca has the Colline Lucchesi and the Colli di Lucca DOC, producing reds and whites of long-standing tradition. San Gimignano (Siena) has Vernaccia di San Gimignano — the first white DOC in Italy, from a native grape. Carmignano (Prato) is one of the smallest and most prestigious DOCG zones in Italy, with a historic presence of Cabernet brought in by the Medici.

On the wooden table: pruning shears, a long pipette holding red wine, a glass, a decanter, a cork, a corkscrew and a bunch of black grapes.

How

The techniques of the craft

The techniques of wine combine ancient knowledge with technology. Viticulture determines quality and quantity: choice of clone, training system (spurred cordon, guyot, bush vine), planting density, canopy management, green harvesting to concentrate flavour. The harvest is done by hand in the finest estates, because only the human eye picks out the healthy bunches. Vinification takes in crushing (today gentle and controlled), maceration on the skins for reds (days or weeks, at controlled temperature) and alcoholic fermentation (natural or selected yeasts). Wood — traditional large Tuscan casks (Slavonian, French) or small French barriques — refines the wine for months or years. Bottling and ageing in bottle complete the process. Biodynamics and organic farming are practices increasingly widespread among quality estates.

In the cellar a man draws wine from a barrel with a pipette; oak barrels are stacked on wooden racks beneath a small window.

Now

The craft today

Doing it today is a global craft. Tuscan wine is exported all over the world (the United States, China, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan) and turns over billions a year for the region. The challenge is a steep one: climate change (harvests are three or four weeks earlier than they were thirty years ago), the pressure of international competition (Australia, Chile, Argentina, California), the swings of the markets. The estates that succeed combine technical quality, the telling of the territory, wine tourism as a second business and environmental care.

The producers of this craft

UccellieraCrespina Lorenzana, Pisa