2014 Piaggia Il Sasso Carmignano Toscana Italy 750 ml

Outclassing Neighboring Tuscan Estates

Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate praises the “series of small miracles” that Piaggia’s Silvia Vannucci performs to outclass neighboring Tuscan estates. But there are no miracles here. For centuries, the Carmignano DOCG has been lauded for what it could be, and has now found its standard-bearer in Piaggia: The estate that Antonio Galloni says “embodies the potential of Carmignano.” This Sangiovese-Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot-blend is one of PIaggia’s wines that “really stood out,” in a Wine Advocate tasting of Carmignano blends.

Piaggia’s 2014 “Il Sasso” is made from hand-picked grapes grown in the Sasso Cru vineyard within one of Carmignano’s best microclimates. After an 18-20 day maceration, the wine spends 15 months in French barriques, and is bottled without filtration or fining. The result is a wine more elegant and seductive than many Bolgheri Super Tuscans whose prices dwarf that of “Il Sasso.”

When Carmignano was awarded DOC status in 1975, its value had been known for centuries. A 1716 edict from Cosimo III de’Medici protected the wines from counterfeiting, and Carmignano winemakers were supplementing Sangiovese with Cabernet Sauvignon centuries before “Super Tuscans” like Sassicaia followed suit. Still, when textile businessman Mauro Vannucci laid eyes on the dry, permeable, stony soils of the Piaggia farm he purchased in the newly-minted Carmignano DOC, he saw viticultural greatness, untapped.

The rolling hills of Carmignano, northwest of Florence, sit at a relatively low 150-650 feet in elevation, where the warmth allows Sangiovese to ripen thoroughly. Sunny easterly exposures and the mandated addition of 10-20% Cabernet Franc or Cabernet Sauvignon means the wines of Carmignano display a richness that often escapes other Tuscan reds.

Vannucci eventually sold his textile company. Then, in 1991, a year after Carmignano was upgraded to DOCG status, he released his flagship wine, the Piaggia Carmignano Riserva — now a perennial Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri recipient. At this time, Vannucci and his daughter Silvia expanded the estate to include the natural 37-acre basin of Il Sasso, named after its stony soil.