langravio Wine
We came back because, being a woman, I feel the need to follow, with and for my children, the ancient way of balance between man and nature, to interpret this union with ethical decisions that are pointing at the restoration of a new identity projected to the future.
We have talked and dreamed, checked quotes, spent sleepless nights and evaluated all the possible choices among the numerous production philosophies available today.
We chose to adopt an agriculture that is tailor-made for us and consistent with our "futuristic" vision of it, based on respecting both the environment and man.
We searched for the perfect integration of different production techniques, by scrupulously evaluating bio-dynamic, organic and traditional production protocols, for an environmental impact that is reduced to the lowest threshold.
Our objective is to guarantee absolute quality and uniqueness, from our land to your glass.
We started by looking after the oldest plants, twisted trunks
30years old and over, trained as double arched cane or pruned according to the farmer’s interpretation. Only one and a half hectare was left in production, while two hectares were pruned for bush training. "We don’t want to loose the patrimony of such deep roots". From these implants, we selected the grafts to plant a new vineyard.
Our attention focuses on land and its vitality; we contribute to its nourishment with the
<500 compound and by practicing autumn and spring green manuring, so as not to use synthetic fertilizers, in order to give it oxygen and life.
As we wished to reduce soil compression and pollution, we equipped a quad for distributing the 500 and 501 compounds, nettle infusions, propolis and rival microorganisms, as well as anything else that allows us not using chemical products in cultivation and limiting to the minimum the use of heavy traditional tractors.
This way, we are sure to offer our children an agricultural model that doesn’t accept pre-formed standards, but rather an intelligent, rational and personal interpretation of cultivating vines today.
We have not been able to find suitable certification for this.
Grandpa Bruno always used to say:"children, land will never let you die of hunger…" he, who successfully ran his family business since the early 1900’s.
He used to produce ladies’ hats with the entire family, his wife Eriberta and their four children, and he always provided a decorous lifestyle for them, yet not forgetting the value of land and of those who work it.
Mary is the eldest daughter, the shoulder and arm of her father’s and, when asked today about her relationship with him, she will tell you about her being his most trustworthy collaborator, who managed the administration of both their industrial activity and the several farms that Bruno had acquired after the war. Among these farms, there is the Belvedere estate, as well as the annexed farming units that he had eventually restructured and improved for the benefit of the farmers, who are still looking after our vineyards today with a renewed energy.
When Mary tells the history of Belvedere, she cannot avoid reminding of the front passing through during WWII. A command of the Allies troupes of the Fifth Army had its Headquarters there and the current cellar was turned into a shelter for the troupes. We are told that the wine stocks, which had been previously hidden from the Germans, were uncovered by the English, who appreciated the quality so much that, many years later, one of those generals came back to Belvedere on the occasion of a meeting of the Lions Club, of which both the general and the “Professor”, Mary’s husband, were members.
The Professor, this is how the estate farmers addressed Brunello Brettoni, who had married Mary on 2 June 1947. Brunello, as Mary recalls, was a man of science and great humanity, but with little passion for mundane life: he saw but a few and trustworthy friends. It was during a dinner with them at Belvedere, that the intuition was conceived for “Chianti chinato” (Chianti flavoured with quinquina), as they baptised it.
Among their topics for discussion, besides Mary’s cuisine and the different wine vintages from Belvedere (not always as good…), there were Steiner’s antroposophic theories and biodynamic cultivation techniques. His farming idea required, first of all,
the respect for his farmers’ techniques, through which he could see naturalness, though not so Steinerian.
Brunello was getting close to the idea of the natural bio-equilibrium that today we want to pursue in a more aware manner, thanks to the considerations that have been passed on by two generations.
I, Mary, Marco, my husband, my children, Gianluca and all our trustworthy collaborators are the protagonists and interpreters of a project and philosophy that today becomes reality.
Belvedere finds its roots in the troubled ages of battles between the Guelphs and Ghibellines. For over a century, the powerful Mozzi family, very wealthy bankers, who managed the Pope’s treasury, kept the property. By governing the lands on one of the hills that sloped to the Arno River from the Hill of Florence, they dominated the confluence of this river with the Sieve from a strategic and concealed position and the Pontassieve territories, as well as part of the Valdarno.
The property was then passed on to Francesco Maria di Baccio del Garbo, Knight of the St. Stephen’s order: an old family with a branch connected to the medieval Serzelli di Altomena.
In 1653, Francesco Maria enriched the Villa, rebuilt on the old castle of Volognano, with a refined chapel dedicated to St. Agatha Virgin and Martyr. The oratory hosts a gold plated wooden shrine, containing the body of S. Perpetua, a relic from the Roman catacombs of Priscilla. This relic still rests today in Belvedere, surrounded by superb decorations and donations added in more recent times by the farmers who worship the Saint.
In 1803, as the Baccio del Garbo lineage had extinguished, Belvedere – through family links – returned into the hands of the Mozzi family, the descendants of the family nucleus of the old Rignano castle of the end of 1200’s and beginning 1300’s.
This powerful family kept the property until shortly after the middle of last century, when it was bought by Bruno Bargioni, whose family still owns the property today. It was he, who replanted the old vineyards and carried on the Belvedere wine making tradition.
Wine is the fruit of man, as grapes are the fruit of the vine. To harvest the fruits, care is required. Work in the cellar must be meticulous and attentive and it is important to work in contact with research and professional competence, by following the possible paths to offer a wine that is, first of all, healthy, free from deviations that are noxious to man and from taste defects.
A long lasting wine that can grow and mature throughout the years, along with our children!A path made up with healthy and balanced grapes, care, cleanliness, correct fermentations and the limited presence of free sulphurous dioxide.
We are taking our first steps from Belvedere to reach the objective of a reality that is totally balanced with nature, offering itself to us and to you through the beauty of its fruit: wine.
Langravio
One evening, talking with a friend about the name we could give to our new wine, we decided to baptise the first wine of our dream with the name LANGRAVIO.
This name, a dynastic title used in Germany since early feudal times, identified the landlord and was in later centuries also translated with the meaning of "count": as such, the Landgrave had sovereign power on his territories and his decisions were executed in daily practices, thus highlighting the administrator’s good or bad value.
We have interpreted this word as the authentic signature of a wine made while thinking about the future, about the respect for man and his work.
Belvedere’s Langravio is born today, from ancient roots, to show itself as a wine of character, audacious and ambitious like our dream.
Langravio will <never be for everyone, but it can be an example of how much man is capable of doing for oneself, by respecting nature and by interpreting agriculture in a manner that has a wide scope and no preclusions.
Langravio
Production area: Chianti DOCG Colli FiorentiniGeographical area: Southern Florence in the Rignano sull’ Arno municipality, on the hills in Rosano, overlooking the Arno
Name of the wine: Langravio
Height above sea level: 250m.s.l.m
Exposure: South-West/North-West
First year of production: 1980
First vintage on the market: 2007
Appellation: IGT Toscana Rosso Supertuscan(a name created by Americans for Tuscan red wines that do not comply with docg regulations. Normally aged in oak barrels)
Vineyard age: 35 anni
Surface: 1.50.00 Ha
Vines density per Ha: 2500/3000 3000 plants (we intend to reach 4800-5000)
Plants training: candelabra and bush trained
Variety: Sangiovese, Canaiolo, Colorino, Ciliegiolo e Mammolo (All local)
Fertiliser: 500 compound, fladen and 500 simple, autumn and spring green manuring on alternate rows, harrow processinge
Phyto-protection: 501, infuses, propolis, rival microorganisms (Q10, bacillus thuringensis, trichoderma harzianum) if required, copper, sulphur and synthetic products are used
Final bunch selection: performed on the field a few days before the harvest
Harvest: by hand, in small cases
Vinification: fermentation in cement vats without temperature control and with a 10 days maceration. (Alcoholic and malolactic fermentation in cement vats. Sulphide addition only after fermentation, within 10mg)
New wine aging: : 14 months in new and used French wooden barrels of different sizes, 600, 400, 500Bottling: without filtering and after clarification with vegetable or mineral products. Unbleached natural cork. Aged for at least 6 months before being released on the market.
Bottle produces for the 2007 harvest: 500 x 1000 ml bottles (€ 40.00 after VAT), and 1000 x 500 ml (€ 18.00)..
Sede: Rignano Sull'Arno (FI) via di Volognano 39 - Ufficio di registro di Firenze n. 580703 Powered By