Farmer/winemaker Dora Forsoni is one of the great elders of Tuscan wine, forever rebelling against modernization, bureaucracy, and industrial farming practices. When Dora greets at the gate of the Sanguineto I & II property with her calloused hands and mischievous smile, you can see in her eyes the decades of wisdom, struggle, and integrity she brings to her work.
These timeless, unadulterated wines are the direct result of one woman’s dogged commitment to purity and tradition. Still, Sanguineto I & II is not just about ideology. Objectively speaking, this wine (Dora’s top bottling) is one of the most regal and “serious” examples of the famed Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG. Particularly with this unbelievable 2013 vintage, it’s an extraordinarily deep, layered, and evocative wine that proves why Montepulciano is one of the three most important Sangiovese-growing villages on Earth. Only 40 cases arrive on the West Coast each year.
Dora Forsoni’s father farmed grapes just a few hundred feet outside the walled medieval city of Montepulciano, dead center in the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG. Montepulciano is one hour south of Chianti Classico and one hour east of the Brunello di Montalcino DOCG, and together these three appellations make up the global epicenter of the Sangiovese variety. Despite the superior quality of her father’s fruit and the historically important location, commercial wine production was not an economically viable option in her father’s era. So, with the exception of a small amount of homemade wine for personal consumption, his fruit was always sold off in bulk to the local cooperative or to large corporate wine labels. Grape vines occupied only a fraction of the family’s property, leaving room for subsistence crops like cereal grains and vegetables. After her father passed away, Dora discovered a small collection of homemade wine from the 1970’s in unlabeled bottles while cleaning out his house. Out of curiosity, she opened one—and much to her surprise it was vibrant, delicious, and a classic expression of the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano terroir. Dora clearly recognized that her land had the potential to produce world-class wine, so she immediately began working to make this potential a reality.
After a few years of trial and error, Dora began bottling her own wines independently under the property’s historic name Sanguineto I & II in the mid-1990s. This is a proudly and strictly organic property and even during the peak of chemical farming, she challenged convention and refused to farm with any chemicals or systemic herbicides. Dora’s pruning and plowing practices are similarly restrained—canopies grow freely, and vines on the Sanguineto estate are noticeably greener and more alive than those of neighboring properties. Even the traditionally brick-colored clay/sand soil of Montepulciano appears darker and more fertile on this property. It’s a special place.
Dora’s tendency to challenge the status quo extends to grape varieties as well. Most producers in the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG plant the same high yielding clonal selection of Sangiovese. Sanguineto I & II takes a different view—the property is a mosaic of the ancient local varieties Mammolo, Canaiolo, and Nero Toscano in addition to the ancient local Sangiovese clone Prugnolo Gentile. This diversity creates greater complexity and local character and guarantees that the wines of Sanguineto I & II are unlike any other wine in Tuscany.
Dora Forsoni’s 2013 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is a step up in concentration and depth from recent Sanguineto I & II bottles I’ve enjoyed. Even in the glass, it is evident that this special year offers more power and masculine intensity than typically comes from Dora’s cellar. Fruit aromas of black currant, morello cherry, and black plum unfurl against a backdrop of cigar tobacco, leather, black tea, dried rose petals and wild herbs. As always with classic Vino Nobile di Montepulciano - even with a younger example like this - there is a pronounced red clay rusticity that is a marked contrast to the dense opacity of a young Brunello or the electric brightness of Chianti. In 2013, Dora also bottled a Vino Nobile that is both more impressive and more enjoyable to drink in its youth than vintages past. This wine emerges from the bottle ready to impress with minimal preparation or fuss. Cheers!
