The Hand of San Gimignano
I was in time to reach San Gimignano to taste around 30 wines of the
2011 vintage among the 61base wines, selezione and riserva on offer at
the Museo,di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea de Grada. Good, fresh,
vigorous with bright lemony acidity and plenty of minerality- all.
Not so much powerful as attractive. It had been a difficult vintage
with a very wet winter.
It was fresh the second part of July and early August, followed by
intense and exceptional august heat. Somewhat optimistically they
claim that this gavehealthy grapes with high sugar content, leading to
perfect maturity and resulting in wines balanced, with good structure
and fine alcoholic content. Honest growers admitted that the
exceptional heat-wave had shrivelled and burned some of the bunches
and that the yields were small. They said, and I confirm, that the
acidities had held up remarkably well, especially where the vines were
on clay soil or higher up the slopes. This year for the two
appellations, Vernaccia di San Gimignano DOCG and San Gimignano DOC,
712 hectares were declared for Vernaccia and 52 for San Gimignano out
of 900 total (producing some 5 million bottles) and 100 respectively.
Vernaccia was the very first DOC in Italy in 1966 and became DOCG
in1993. The Consorzio today has 76 members of whom 54 bottle their
wine.
We were staying in the Antico Pozzo, a wonderful ancient 15thcentury
town house where the illuminati used to meet to enjoy themselves. At
one stage it was also the scene of some of the processes of the
infamous inquisition in the Sala Rosa (today the breakfast room). A
fine building with a deep ancient well at the back. It is reliably
recounted that girls of the period who refused the “droit de seigneur” were suspended in the well for three days and three nights before
being returned to their new husbands!
The welcoming dinner that night was in the Restaurant Lampolla in an
hotel outside San Gimignano, all those in the town being closed for
the winter season. Here we were warmly welcomed by Letizia Cesani,
President of the Consorzio Denominazione di San Gimignano. The dinner
was sadly disappointing!
Tasting at Sala di Dante
The Hall of the Palazzo Comunale (built in 1288) in San Gimignano is
known as the Sala di Dante and is a large reception hall which was
used in the past as the council chamber.It was named for the noted
poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), who visited San Gimignano in 1300 as
an ambassador of the Florentine Republic.The room is decorated with a
Maestà by LippoMemmi. Commissioned in 1317 by Nello de Mino Tolomei
(then podestà of San Gimignano), the fresco is believed to have been
inspired by Simone Martini's Maestà from the Palazzo Pubblico in
Siena. The fresco shows Mary seated on a throne surrounded by adoring
saints and angels (including patron Nello de Mino Tolomei). It is a
truly wonderful place to hold a tasting.
Vernaccia vs. Chenin Blanc
This year, for the 7th edition,we compared, or at least noted, the
different characteristics of Vernaccia and Chenin Blanc. There is
little comparison. We tasted Vernaccia from 2011 to 2002 to show how
well they can age. Regretfully I found that Vernaccia does not and
although the 2002 was from a superb producer it was way past its best.
Surprisingly, out of all the producers only 54 bottle their wine.
This year the Chenins, all from the Loire, were disappointing. Those
from Huet and Thierry Germain were splendid; that from Joly
acceptable, but two others very poor indeed. Nobody was there from
the Loire and the wines had been purchased off the shelf. Also the
script that was distributed about Chenin was biased and incorrect. It
stated, quite falsely, that we should note that no Chenin from the New
World could hold a candle to those from the Loire. I was forced to
stand up and remonstrate and Professor Ernesto Gentili, the moderator
said to me at lunch “the sentence was misplaced”!
A fine buffet lunch of local specialities, charcuterie and cheeses,
together with a mayonnaise and an olive oil ice cream from the  famous
local ice-cream producer.I then had time to taste another 30 wines
before we were driven off to Florence and deposited at our AC Hotel
behind the Stazione Leopolda. It had been an enjoyable, useful and
instructive visit in San Gimignano. That evening was free and
together with friends we enjoyed Pappardelle alCinghiale and
BisteccaFiorentina in a local trattoria, topped off with Vin Santo and
Cantuccini.
John Salvi, Master of Wine
Part B of the Tuscan Tasting will be in the next issue #494 of
delWine. Watch out this space- editor
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