Concerto, the re-born super Tuscan wine from Fonterutoli
Website: https://uk.mazzei.it/
The Mazzei family are a Tuscan powerhouse. They have significant vineyards in Chianti Classico, and as well as making a range of Chianti Classico wines, including three Gran Seleziones, they have two prominent super-Tuscan wines, Siepi and Concerto.
I caught up with 25th generation Giovanni Mazzei to taste through three vintages of the Concerto di Fonterutoli.
Concerto was the first of their super-Tuscan ventures. The first vintage was in 1981, but Giovanni explained that the roots of this wine stemmed from the 1960s and 1970s, when Tuscany was undergoing significant changes. The sharecropping arrangement that dominated agriculture here had finished, and landowners were adjusting how they were doing things.
They were planting lots of Sangiovese, but had some bad experiences with the local nurseries. So they cast their eyes around and got in touch with French nurseries. They decided to plant some Cabernet Sauvignon, and it performed really well.
In particular, it really helped out the Sangioveses of the time, which were thinner and lighter. Although Cabernet could be a bit green, it had more oomph. Concerto, released first in 1981, became their best seller. But in 1995 they stopped production. This is because they needed the vineyards to launch their premium Chianti Classico, Castello di Fonterutoli.
Then in 2006 they bought a property with 45 hectares of vines including some Cabernet Sauvignon. This raised the possibility of resurrecting Concerto. The site was at 300 m, with beautiful blue clay and limestone soils. Eventually, in 2011, Concerto was re-born, initially as a small offering for old clients of the wine. It was a big success. Concerto was back, this time as a single-vineyard wine, from 5 hectares. The proportions of 80% Sangiovese and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon were maintained.
‘For me it’s an interesting wine,’ says Giovanni. ‘We’d like to introduce people back to Concerto.’
‘My generation lives in a time where you hardly ever come across bad wines,’ he says. ‘So we have to work on identity and what a wine stands for.’
The winemaking for Concerto aims not to get in the way. ‘The gentler the vinification, the clearer the site message,’ says Giovanni.
Whole berries are optically sorted, and then the Sangiovese is fermented with submerged cap. The Cabernet is vinified separately, with just a few punchdowns. Sangiovese goes to 5000 litre large oak, while Cabernet goes to barrels, from a wide range of coopers, with low toast. The wines are blended and then spend 4-6 months in cement tank together before bottling.
Concerto di Fonterutoli 2020 IGT Toscana, Italy
Lovely fruit here. This is sweet and rich with some savoury, dusty, spicy detail on the nose as well as black cherries and blackcurrant. The palate has lovely presence with more of that savoury, dusty spiciness and some sour cherry on the finish, as well as a nice bitter twist. It’s Tuscan origins are really clear, with the sweet fruit complemented by some pleasant sour and bitter hints. Well structured with a nice acid line. 94/100
Concerto di Fonterutoli 2021 IGT Toscana, Italy
This is really alert and concentrated, showing depth allied to freshness. Giovanni describes it as a fantastic vintage: ‘I love the tannins, which are tense but melting at the end. This is our benchmark.’ It’s still youthful, with a core of sweet cherry and berry fruit, and then it shows fine grained tannin, a touch of pepper, and a twist of sour cherry and cranberry. Approachable now, this has a long future ahead of it. The Tuscan wildness is nicely tamed. 96/100
Concerto di Fonterutoli 2022 IGT Toscana, Italy
If you look at the climate data 2022 was a problem vintage because of the heat and drought, but Giovanni calls it a miracle vintage, and compared with many other regions the vines here fared well and the resulting wines are really good. This is a lovely wine. There’s a core of ripe sweet blackcurrant and blackberry fruit, as befits a solar vintage, but also freshness and structure. It has a taste of luxury, but also some finesse. Grippy but with some silkiness to the fruit, this is a really lovely wine. 95/100
