Story by Manos Angelakis
 

 

Coervo from Cecci Family Estates

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of sitting down to lunch with Andrea Cecchi, fourth generation family winemaker for Cecchi Family Estates. Andrea, who shares management responsibilities with his brother Cesare, is driven by tradition and the pursuit of excellence.

The over 200-years old Cecci Family Estates, is a collection of three prime vineyards in Tuscany – in the Chianti Classico DOCG – as well as one in Umbria. Villa Cerna in Castellina, Chianti, is where the company is headquartered, and that is where most of the production cycle takes place. Top-quality Sangiovese grapes are grown at three of the vineyards using superior clones in traditional field blends and vines densely spaced to force the growth of high-quality fruit. The vineyards are the above mentioned Villa Cerna, the Castello di Montauto at San Gimignano – where mostly white Vernaccia grapes are planted, the Val delle Rose near Grosseto, in the Maremma, and Tenuta Alzatura at Montefalco in Umbria. What one finds in the Cecci red wines today are aromas of deep cherry, dark forest berries and plum. Sometimes, there are hints of violets, and mineral scents, leather, cedar and tobacco. These wines generally possess a firm structure imparted by the natural tannins of Sangiovese, which tend to make them ostensibly austere at times.

Brothers Andrea and Cesare Cecci make traditional-tasting but very modern wines.  They recently brought to the US market a beautiful new red wine called “Coervo”, a word that in Italian means “contemporary”. Coervo debuted in Italy with the 2006 vintage, and just became available to the US market (May 2010) after garnering a Tre Bicchieri from Gambero Rosso in 2009. It is as fat and ripe, though much readier to drink upon purchase than many of the other Chianti Classicos. Coervo will be produced only from the finest vintages and the blend will vary from vintage to vintage.  The introduction of that wine was the reason for our vintner’s lunch at Del Posto, one of New York’s upscale Italian eateries. The debut 2006 vintage, was sourced 60% from the family estate, Villa Cerna, with the balance coming from the Maremma’s coastal region (Val delle Rose vineyard). The grapes were hand-picked at the vineyards. The final blend is 50% Sangiovese, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot and 20% Petit Verdot. Each varietal was vinified separately in stainless steel; the best 7 lots were selected and aged for a year. At that point the blending took place and the resulting wine was placed in barriques and tonneaux to mature for additional months. It was then bottled and aged for 12 more months in bottle, prior to release. This created a modern, not over-extracted, well balanced wine, with a thoughtful use of oak. It is aromatic with very good acidity.

Again, this is the first commercially released vintage. I liked what I tasted, but I would like to reserve final judgment until I have a chance to taste one or two more vintages.

To your health!

 

 

 

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Issue:
January
2012