A Podcast about the Sangiovese grape

Subscribe in a reader

So, this is my very first podcast and I'm extremely excited! The subject is the SANGIOVESE grape (see picture) and the rest can be heard in the recording. I would be happy to hear what you think of it - so please leave me a comment ;)

Happy New Year!

Trip to the Maremma and visit to winery Sassotondo

We took a two-day trip to the Maremma region this past week. Our mission was to try out the renowned restaurant Caino, situated in the fairy-tale town of Montemerano. This restaurant has been rated two Michelin stars and as a former restaurateur and my partner being a chef it is natural that we have wanted to try it out for quite some time. Anyway, I will probably write a restaurant review later on.

Here you will find a short account of our first day and it might be helpful if you are planning on visiting that same region when you come to Tuscany.

Tuscany is a rather large region (at least for a European mindset). In fact, we seldomly leave it and if we do we are amazed of the regional differences (such as dialect, behaviour, landscape, food, etc.).
The South of Tuscany is several hours drive away from us. The region is named Maremma and is famous for its wonderful beaches, nature and hot springs, but it is also an upcoming wine region. In fact, Tuscany’s 7th DOCG wine is the Morellino di Scansano.
I had always wanted to visit the towns of Sorano, Sovana and Pitigliano having heard lots of good things about them. One negative thing about visiting these smaller towns in the winter is that a lot of the shop-keepers and restaurateurs close up in the “dead” season (so from November to March), but looking at the positive side these places are definitely not overrun by other tourists.
The position of the towns is South of the highest mountain (an extinct volcano) in this part of Tuscany, the Monte Amiata. It reaches some 5000 feet. The area around the 3 towns is dominated by the stone Tufo, a rock formed probably millions of years ago by lava from the volcano. The towns are subsequently built on Tufo and with Tufo stones. It is really quite peculiar to see how caves have been excavated into the rock under the town of Pitigliano – there seems to be a whole underground town of caves and tunnels!
Pitigliano was definitely my favourite to walk around, Sorano being also quite amazing but drastic to walk around as it is very steep, Sovana cute but tiny (we walked it all in less than 10 minutes). Pitigliano also is noteworthy for the Jewish quarter and even has Jewish gastronomic specialties that you can only find there.

The best thing about the day was our visit to the organic winery Sassotondo of which you can watch the video that I have posted here. The quality of the video is for obvious reasons very home-made, for which I’m sure I don’t have to excuse myself. But seriously, if you are interested in seeing a really cool and friendly winery in the area of Maremma you should visit it yourself.

The grape varietal in this area is called Ciliegiolo and is one of those really interesting native varietals that can even stand on its own. In fact, the flag-ship wine “San Lorenzo” is made with this varietal exclusively and is a fab wine! It will sell on http://www.tuscany-in-a-bottle.com/ for around 30 Euro a bottle.

Cork Oak - is there a shortage of oak?

Is there really a cork shortage?
This is question that I often get to discuss with my guests after they testify that Italian DOCG wines must by regulation have the natural cork. The tendencies in the New World seem to go over to alternative solutions even for the better wines, such as screw tops and silicone cork-imitations.
Many blame this development on cork shortage, but it seems to be a tale as it should much more likely be blamed on the increase of prices on good cork.
Another argument that I’ve heard forwarded is the one that the alternative solutions are more nature-friendly than natural cork. Here I don’t see the logic – how can a natural product be more threatening to the environment than plastic materials that are less degradable? Cork is a unique substance and a long-proven closure for wine. No other stopper combines cork's inert nature, impermeability to liquids, flexibility, sealing ability and resilience. Being a natural product, cork is also environmentally friendly, renewable, recyclable and biodegradable.
To harvest the cork, the outer bark is stripped from the tree once every 10 years and the tree regenerates the bark. The cork industry is environmentally friendly and truly sustainable. Cork trees are only removed when they become decrepit with age or to reduce overcrowding. So natural cork is probably the most nature-friendly solution we might find.
So I think it is fair to conclude that the cork shortage could have been overstated by alternative cork producers or wineries who are not willing to pay the premium price for natural cork.


“Corked” or “tainted” wines and what is the incidence of cork taint?
Cork itself does not affect the wine but the cork may become contaminated with TCA bacteria, a worldwide pollution affecting many food and beverage products, and this may migrate into the wine, causing taint.
There is no definitive research that accurately determines the incidence of cork-related taint, although oenological studies suggest that 2-5% of wines are affected by some sort of taint, of which cork taint is one factor.


Can wine be affected by TCA only through the cork?
No. TCA is often referred to as cork taint; this wrongly suggests the cork is the sole cause of TCA. However, TCA can be found in bottled water, wine bottled with screw caps, beer, spirits, soft drink, packaged food products and even raisins. TCA in wine may be due to:
- Contaminated oak barrels or corks
- Contaminated winery machinery or bottling equipment
- Airborne moulds in the winery environs
- Moulds in transport containers or the home cellar

I would be happy to receive comments or questions.