Wine & Spirits - Spring 2023 - 51

weight producers with old families and important castles. "
Maurizio has neither. He worked as a consulting oenologist
for nearly three decades before he was able to buy
some property of his own in 2015. His two plots in this
secluded corner of Gaiole total just over three vineyard
acres on macigno, a brown, sandy soil that is a complete
departure from the hard, white alberese slopes of Gaiole's
south and west. Alongi's vines were planted 50 years ago,
at a time when it was typical to interplant other varieties
with sangiovese-in this case, malvasia nera and canaiolo.
Down at Gaiole's southern point, Luca Martini has to
use nets to shield his grapes from sunburn. At Alongi's
vineyards, surrounded by woods and overshadowed by
mountain peaks, he says that in the past it was hard to
ripen the grapes here, where the microclimate is similar
to that of Radda, just a few miles to the north. Now, with
increasing temperatures, he finds his cooler exposition
an advantage. Alongi makes just five thousand bottles a
year under one label, Chianti Classico Riserva Vigna Barbischio,
and he coferments the varieties in his vineyard
before aging the wine in used tonneaux for one year, and
18 months in bottle. " My philosophy is to keep the wine
a shorter time in wood and longer in the bottle, " he says,
explaining that sangiovese grown on sandy soils like his
have softer tannins than those grown on plots with more
clay, and requires less micro-oxygenation in barrels to
tame the tannins. We tasted Vigna Barbischio from five of
his six vintages (he's run out of the 2015, his first release),
and, despite some vintage variation, the wines consistently
showed high-toned red-cherry flavors, soft raspy tannins
and bracing acidity, a style similar to the wines of Radda.
I asked Alongi why he labeled his wine as a Riserva,
when it meets all of the requirements for a Gran Selezione.
" When I started in 2015, those wines were all about
richness and extract, " he explained. " I didn't agree with
this message, and the tasting committee wouldn't have
approved wines like mine that are lighter and more elegant. "
He thinks that has changed, though, and he likes
the idea of adding the name Gaiole to his label, which will
become possible for Gran Selezione wines this year. " It
is important for me to go slow, though, because this is a
traditional area. "
The desire of some Gaiole producers To furTher
divide the UGAs is understandable, and even admirable,
as it stems from an intense focus on the particularities of
their land. I am not convinced, however, that multiplying
the number of UGAs will help consumers who are at the
very earliest stage of encountering regional identity within
Chianti Classico, and are just beginning to see wine lists
organized by UGAs at restaurants like Babbo in New York
and Acquerello in San Francisco.
The UGA structure, as it now stands, is a powerful concept-not
just in a marketing sense, but because it has
spurred producers to develop greater territorial consciousness,
and that is driving quality higher. In Radda, this is
playing out as a convergence toward a singular style. In
Gaiole, a UGA that covers one-third more territory than
Radda, the strength lies in its diversity, with multiple styles
dictated by territorial differences and by the choices that
producers make within the context of their land. But
even as they push for further divisions, some producers
still value the historical association with Gaiole-perhaps
enough that they will allow wine lovers time to acclimate
to the new UGA system, which is already giving shape and
context to Anderson's multitudes. l
S PR IN g 2023
WINE & SPIR IT S
51
Vigna Barbischio
MAURIZIO ALONgI
AMONg HIS HALFCENTURY-OLD
VINES
IN gAIOLE'S NORTHERN
SECTOR, WHERE
COOLER TEMPERATURES
AND BROWN SANDSTONE
SOILS DICTATE A
LIgHTER AND BRIgHTER
STYLE OF SANgIOVESE.
Wine & Spirits - Spring 2023

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