29-07-2022 by Nick Santos (Alivini Company Ltd)
How much do you know of Tuscany’s heralded wines before Sassicaia 2015 emerged, before Bolgheri DOC, and a wine that isn’t a Chianti or of similar varietal make-up? While the Piaggia winery may seem very young, founded in 1975, the foundations upon which it has been established are remarkable and distinguished, thus landing their Carmignano Riserva 2016 with the most prestigious wine award available: “Italy’s Best Wine 2020” by Gambero Rosso – this super achievement is further respected due to the crowded nature of the Tuscan wine scene (and not the first time Piaggia’s wines have been regarded as the best in various sectors)!
The Piaggia winery began as a small 2.5ha plot in the best area of the Carmignano DOCG region – today, the vineyards stretch across almost 25ha (15 of which are cultivated with vines) and, thanks to Mauro Vannucci’s intuition and courage, their wines have simply got better and better since their first bottled vintage in 1991. Mauro’s daughter, Silvia, says, “You have to take risks because it is not enough to simply have the good fortune to produce in a decidedly suitable territory…you have to buy in the right places, especially if our goal is to reach 150,000 bottles per year to meet demand across a DOC region that is limited to just 250ha.”
Piaggia owners Mauro Vannucci and his daughter Silvia.
Piaggia is, in fact, known more abroad than in Italy yet by April each year the wine is usually sold out and customers are told to wait until September for the new vintage (if not already sold en-primeur). Tuscany has seen Sangiovese being combined with Cabernet since the sixteenth century, Merlot is also at home here, yet in the sixties there was a local varietal that made its silent comeback on the scene: Carmignano. Historically, this grape dates back to times before the DOC was established, 1716, and that, today, is controlled by the consortium but leaves ample room for “interpretation” and customisation, allowing each producer to have its own style and setting, percentages or choices between barrels and/or barriques.
Alivini is proud to list the following wines for the UK market:
- PIAGGIA CARMIGNANO RISERVA DOCG – the winery’s standard-bearer: the result of rigorous selection in an old vineyard near Poggetto, where the grapes make high quality wines that enhance the characteristics of the appellation to the max.
- IL SASSO CARMIGNANO DOCG – made from selected grapes grown in the winery’s vineyard of the same name, located in one of the most interesting areas of the appellation, where the tradition of the land is given a modern twist.
- POGGIO DE’COLLI IGT – mono varietal Cabernet Franc, a vine that has found the grounds of Piaggia an ideal habitat, producing wines of outstanding elegance, refinement and complexity.
