No More Terrible Years in Tuscany

Life as a wine grower in our part of the world has been a hard slog of late.  The Euro has been too strong due to Germany, and the weather has been either erratic or down right nasty.  The last time the crop was both good and large was 2008.  Some producers like Rampolla, La Massa and Casaloste extracted excellent 2013's, but the vintage was small.

2015 is a year to celebrate.  Most important: the crop is a corker.  The grapes are close to perfect.  The quantity could be up 50% or even more compared to 2014.  At the Vino al Vino wine festival in Panzano everyone was smiling.  Expectations are not just for a good year, but for one of the truly great years. 

Picking began early and the weather has cooperated.  Indeed it cooperated all year with rain when required, but not too much, plenty of sun but cool nights, and rain and sun roughly in the right order!  As one winemaker said to me “If I do not make the best wine ever this year it will be my fault.”. 

So we are looking forward to getting our hands on large quantities of this year’s output in two years’ time when the Classico comes out, and in three years’ time when the Reserva emerges from the casks.  This vintage should be that rare treat that drinks well when young yet also ages gracefully and for longer than usual.  Conditions have not been so helpful everywhere else in Europe so Tuscany should shine when the experts deliver their verdict.  In addition a lower Euro, partly courtesy of Greece and partly courtesy countryman ECB President Mario Draghi, means prices should be more competitive than they have been.  Truthfully 2014 was no great shakes but let’s put that behind us as here we come with cheaper and better, a winning combination for Tuscan wine makers, and especially our friends and neighbours in Panzano.   

We invited a leading independent wine merchant from London, Johnny Goedhuis, to stay for the festival.  He came with a colleague and we were able to take them around to seven producers the following Monday and Tuesday.  They were pleasantly surprised at the quality of the wines sampled.  Their clients should get the chance to buy at least a few of Panzano’s local stars through Goedhuis and Company next year.  Remarkably some of the best names here have no or at best inconspicuous representation in the UK.

 Conca d'oro with Fontodi behind:  Charlie Whittington, Johnny Goedhuis and James  

Another interesting recent development has been the arrival in the Conca  D'oro of new investors, buying up vineyards and agritourismos, and spending serious money to take them up market.  This will make a difference.  As our friends from Singapore said when they stayed in a couple of villas over the summer:  they come to enjoy the scenery and history, the fine food and wine and the culture; but they want to do it with good air conditioning and proper bathrooms.  Too many offerings fall short of the required standard.  At least in our area that is changing.

The biggest change will be the three year renovation of Villa Vignamaggio, scene of the film Much Ado about Nothing starring Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson.  This wonderful villa will get the full treatment and should emerge as a five star gem complete with spa.  The new owner is the Chairman of Napster, someone who can afford to drop tens of millions of Euros into an upgrade.  He has ambitious plans.  He already bought another property in the valley.  The potential of Vignamaggio with excellent position, good land and old vines had not been properly realised under the previous ownership.  Even the Mona Lisa Reserva is not as good as it should be.  This is likely to change.    

A Dutch investor, a successful businessman, recently bought the biodynamic boutique of Renzo Marinai.  Renzo is a magician with wine who plays music to his barrels; different composers for the different wines and blends.  Fortunately he stays in place as the new owner expands the acreage.  We expect the quality and personality of these wines to be maintained as its availability becomes wider.

Renzo Marinaia and his team selecting the grapes

A Swiss investor just renovated a local agritourismo with great style and taste, in the process introducing a new price point to our Commune : the 400 Euro room.  There will be more such rooms coming soon.  Thus Asian tourists looking for luxury together with the best of Italian experience surrounded by vines and olives, will find it in Panzano.

Over at Villa Le Barone, a long-time favourite for travellers to this part of Chianti, the owners added some newer rooms and are upgrading the swimming pool.  The hotel continues to draw rave reviews from people who like character, a lovely location and outstanding family cooked fare.  The food is so good only hotel guests get to enjoy it.  While somewhat rustic the charm that pervades this place and also the charm of the service more than compensates for any old fashioned elements.  The honour bar is a reminder of a bygone age of tourism. 

There is investment going on in the village as well.  A new wine bar has opened that offers two wines from every local producer in one place.  Still we prefer to eat at Enoteca Baldi where the food is spectacular and inexpensive.  Mimmo used to be the executive chef at the Berkeley Hotel in London.  And people travel from all over the world to enjoy one of the three restaurants run by Dario Cecchini.  Google who is the world’s most famous butcher?  Our man in Panzano comes up.  The only problem is that after eating his bistecca Florentine nowhere else will it ever taste as good.

 

This little corner of Tuscany is moving up in the world.  New investment and new people are reviving what was always the most choice part of Chianti.  House prices have stablished and are starting to inch back up.  The atmosphere in the village is completely different from what it was twelve months ago.  As another winemaker said to me “2015 could be the vintage of my life time.  I have been waiting over 20 years for this.”  Let us hope he is right.

 

To go from the particular to the general September’s consumer confidence in ltaly is the highest since 2002.  Good to know it is not just Panzano where things are getting better.

 

A brief postscript to this voyage.  Once again I was unfortunate enough to be scheduled through Munich.  Without doubt this is one of the world’s worst airports and a place to avoid at all costs if you can, especially if you hope to change planes.  Unfortunately there are times when there is no other sensible route.

 

I have attempted to make 9 connecting flights via Munich over the past three years.  Four times I was foiled, including my latest attempt to get from Kiev to Geneva.  On another occasion I made it, but my bags did not.  So in a majority of cases with an average theoretical transfer time of around one hour ten minutes, and most changes taking place in the very same terminal, the transfer has not been possible in practice.

 

Late flights appear to be routine, but it is the airport itself that is part of the problem.  Arriving from Kiev you have to go through a full security screen.  With over 100 people and precisely one line open, that did not work well.  There were plenty of people standing around doing nothing.  They seemed to enjoy the distress of passengers wanting to get screened quickly so they could get on and go to their departure gate.  Around half the people on my plane were trying to connect to another flight.  Most did not make it.  It took nearly half an hour before the last person off that bus got through both security and immigration; and the bus itself took nearly ten minutes from plane to gate.  Had we been illegal Syrian refugees no doubt processing would have been faster and less thorough!

 

I am getting to know the Lufthansa lounges in Munich Airport far too well as I had to wait once again for a later flight than the one that I was originally booked to take.  At least they have good sparkling water on tap.  My advice : try hard to avoid Munich Airport.  It is clearly run by a former employee of Volkswagen’s R&D Department.  This hub proves that the much vaunted German efficiency does not include airline passenger management.  Munich may have a nice exterior, but the guts give users indigestion.  Frankfurt is a dump, but at least at that airport you can usually get on the right plane.