Le Pergole Torte 2014

The wine in this vintage

2014 was a complicated year in Tuscany: a cool, rainy summer made ripening difficult and demanded severe selection, with results varying widely from area to area. It is in such years that great producers stand out: Le Pergole Torte 2014 has a more delicate, transparent profile, with small red berries, flowers, aromatic herbs and a citrus note, on a nimble, fresh and savoury palate with fine tannins. Already pleasurable and highly drinkable, it can be kept for a few more years, though it does not demand long waiting and offers an unusually graceful reading of the wine.

The producer · Montevertine

Montevertine was born in 1967 in Radda in Chianti, when Milanese industrialist Sergio Manetti bought an old farmhouse in the Sienese hills, initially as a country retreat. The first wines, made for friends, soon revealed extraordinary potential. In 1977 Manetti, advised by the legendary Giulio Gambelli, made Le Pergole Torte, one of the area’s first pure Sangioveses, at a time when Chianti Classico rules still required white grapes in the blend; the choice took it outside the appellation and made it a symbol of Tuscan independence. Today the estate is run by his son Martino Manetti, who guards its style with great consistency. The vineyards, at around 400 metres on galestro and alberese soils, are farmed for low yields and with deep respect for tradition, alongside small plantings of Canaiolo and Colorino used for Montevertine and Pian del Ciampolo. Aged in large casks and partly in barriques, the wines are a manifesto for mountain Sangiovese: luminous, savoury, fragrant, never manipulated, and able to age for decades.

Critics' scores

• 97 Antonio Galloni
• 96 James Suckling

Technical details

Producer

Montevertine

Region

Toscana

Country

Italia

Type

Rosso

Vintage

2014

When to drink

Hold, still evolving

Critics' average

96.5/100

Sizes

75 cl, Magnum 150 cl, Case of 6 × 75 cl

eWibe code

0660114