#131 Persistence, In Spite of Uncertainty
In Chianti Classico, we met someone else who believes in the next generation.
As we did in Piedmont, we found a guide in the Chianti Classico region who had grown up there and who knew the local wines and winemakers. We corresponded in advance and asked to visit producers at higher elevations, where some aspects of “terroir” might be more like ours in the Finger Lakes.
Of the producers we visited with our guide, one struck me as being on a trajectory somewhat similar to ours at Boundary Breaks.
Jurij Fiori directs operations at Podere Scalette in Greve, which is in the heart of the Chianti Classico region south of Florence. He has also begun to develop a second vineyard site in nearby Lamole, (more about that later.)
Sangiovese is the “signature” grape in Chianti. For the longest time, people considered wines from Chianti inexpensive and pleasing, but professionals viewed them as too simple to be taken seriously. As in Piedmont with the Nebbiolo grape, the story of the Sangiovese grape in Tuscany took a turn in the 1980’s.
In the 80’s, when bigger, bolder red wines from California) were commanding higher prices, winemakers in Tuscany began blending other grape varieties (like Cabernet Sauvignon) with Sangiovese to make denser, higher-alcohol red wines. These are the wines that became known as “Super Tuscans.” And, like the demand for California Cabs, the demand for Super Tuscans took off.
Many of these bigger wines began as blends that included significant amounts of Sangiovese. But, over time, they began to have a greater and greater proportion of other grape varieties. The prevailing style of wine from the region had begun to change.
If you are a producer of red wine—wherever you are in the world—it is hard to resist the lure of making wines that are in a style that the market demands. This style of big, bold red wine—sometimes referred to as the “international style”—has very broad appeal. But as time has gone on and as everyone in the wine world began making the same style of wine, the traditional varietal character of wines from a particular region began to disappear. No matter where they were made, they all began to taste the same.
This has happened to all kinds of red grape varietals. (We noted this earlier this year during one of our Winter Wine Explorations, when we tasted ten red wines blind and wrote about it in Substack #123.)
The alternative to making red wines in the homogenized, so-called international style is to make exceptional wines with varietal character—whether that varietal is Sangiovese or Nebbiolo—or even Cabernet Franc. And this is where I found common ground with Jurij Fiore.
Jurij Fiore (left) speaking with me and Diana overlooking his vineyard.
Fiore is experienced. He has a degree in Viticulture & Enology from Beaune in Burgundy and has spent his career as a winemaker. He has been in charge of the vineyard and the winemaking at his family’s winery, Podere Scalette in Greve since 1991.
He believes in Chianti Classico wine made from the Sangiovese grape. And he wants to prove that it can be made in distinctive style that can command a respectably high price.
This will not be easy. Farming in Greve is challenging, for many of the same reasons that farming in the Finger Lakes is challenging. Climate change is causing extreme periods of drought; Fiore has had to drill a new well 300 meters deep to supply a new irrigation systems.
Wildlife is proliferating and eating his grapes. This has forced him to enclose his entire vineyard with a fence. (We did the same thing; see Substacks #20.)
It took him eleven years to secure a permit to renovate and expand his original winemaking facility. The bureaucracy in Chianti is tough.
Nonetheless, in spite of the challenges, he has decided to start a new label in a new location focusing on making compelling wines with 100% Sangiovese grapes. So far his production is a very small amount of wines for the Jurij Fiore e Figlia label. They are labelled Chianti Classico, and they are not cheap—roughly $50 a bottle for the current vintage and much more for older vintages.
What I admire about him with the new label is that he is not capitulating and making wines for the broad section of the market. At Podere Scalette, he makes more reasonably-priced wines, but with Jurij Fiore e Figlia he is aiming for something that is even more ambitious.
Above: Sara Fiore, with her father, Jurij. They are among the vanguard of small producers in the Chianti Classico region who are making very serious wines from 100% Sangiovese grapes.
It is uncommon to find people like Jurij Fiore, who are in his late fifties, assuming both physical and financial hardship to establish a new brand and business, separate and apart from the existing, established one.
Lamole, where his new project is located, is known for fertile soils and is a celebrated place that has produced wine since the Roman era. He also said it has taken decades for him to acquire multiple small parcels of vineyard property in a Lamole near his family’s existing vineyards.
Fiore’s Lamole vineyards are central to his effort to make the serious, Chianti Classico wines that can command prices that were unheard of for Sangiovese wines in the 1960s and 70s..
His production from Lamole is still very small. But is fully committed in spite of all the obstacles.
Kudos to Jurij for not kowtowing to the all-mighty dollar (or Euro, in this case). Sangiovese can make some beautiful wine. My love of wine began while vacationing in the hills north of Florence in the tiny town of Gaiole and the Chianti Classico DOCG there was wonderful.
There will come a time where every wine tastes exactly the same (big alcoholic tannic monsters) - we are already edging up to that point - and the classic varietals will once again be appreciated for what they are. I am confident people will once again celebrate the differences if only because different wines pair with different foods.
Or we will keep making only California/Bourdeaux style reds and the only food it will pair with is steak. That would be a sad day.
What a great story underpinned by inspiring determination. I have another perspective (unpopular to the FLX wine scene). As a collector of red wines for over 30 years, I have a different thought about the world of reds. The difference is Sangiovese from Chianti is consistently good. Red wines from the FLX are consistently bad, IMHO. In fact, until 20 years ago I couldn't find a red wine made from FLX grapes anywhere worthy of a $25 price tag. Every FLX red wine tasted was austere, with the bitterness of the green bark of a tree branch that will bend and not break resulting from unripened fruit that should never have been destined for red wine in the first place. Put a FLX red up against an $8 store bought mass produced red from anywhere that has a climate that can grow reds and the supermarket wine wins every time. Any other winemaker from any other region would take their 18-19 brix reds and make a nice sparkling wine or rose' ... as has been done for centuries ... but NOT try and a red wine. But, in the FLX, many try and make reds from unripened fruit, which in my opinion, has a negative impact on the FLX brand. In fact, as you know regulations in several parts of the world even make it illegal for winemakers to make wine from varietals unapproved (and unproven).
There is a reason that Cab Sauv is grown in Bordeaux and not in Burgundy, and similarly, why the Germans focus on Riesling and not Grenache. We are also very good at growing apples and pears in upstate New York, but we don't grow avocados. So the move in the FLX to showcase Cabernet Franc is questionable in my mind. I believe we can ripen Pinot Noir more fully consistently than Cab Franc, and it would have received my vote as the wine to look to the future with. In the last 20 years, growers and winemakers like yourself, Bruce, Forge, Wiemer, and others have begun to make wines more to my liking. Sure, they are still convincingly 'cool climate' reds characterized by the freshness and acidity even with aging, but I think the growers are letting the fruit hang longer, allowing the fruit to ripen as it should and showcase the flavors that we expect from these noble grapes. I think there is a BIG difference between showcasing the nuances of FLX Cab Franc vs other parts of the world - just with one condition - with fully ripened fruit. Style differences from Terrior are fascinating.
The story that you shared is certainly testimony to the commitment to the grape, the culture, and to quality from the custodians of the land. Indeed you truly share these admirable traits and are making great quality Cab Franc in the FLX. Thank you, and sorry for the rant. :)