Azienda Agricola La Torre

Montalcino

In 1976, when my father planted the first vineyard, Montalcino was still a farming community and Brunello di Montalcino wine was only known to a few great connoisseurs. Then, in the 1980s, the media started to treat wine, previously just another form of agricultural produce, as a media product, and Brunello became a famous name with many consumers. Those were the years of the rise to fame of large Brunello producers, who launched their wines onto the Italian and foreign markets, gaining visibility through the media circus. My father and I came here just before the start of a major transformation process, which affected not only the conversion of wine from an agricultural product to a media phenomenon but also the adoption of new scientific techniques in wine-making, and the introduction of the first IT methods into wineries. My estate management policy, in agreement with my father, was to combine the techniques I had learnt from my degree in agriculture from the University of Florence with the knowledge of a number of old farmers who cultivated their vines and made their wines with enthusiasm and meticulous care. The decision to maintain contact with the traditional farmers was the key to remaining in touch with the surrounding territory and producing wines of local character with a strong bond to the land where they originated - Montalcino and the La Torre estate in particular – during years of rapid transformation, when wineries were in danger of losing their traditional roots and focusing on the cellar rather than the vineyard, with the same techniques in use all over Italy. The bond to the territory, or the terroir, as the French call it, must be flexible and dynamic and not rigid and Manichean in the sense of ridiculously absolutist interpretation of the rules or, in today’s terms, the “Northern League” attitude to authenticity. This means that it is quite possible that vinestocks apart from those already grown in the area may one day be introduced to Montalcino (the great human migrations have always brought grapes from other parts of the world, such as alicante, which came to Tuscany from Spain in the Sixteenth Century), but consideration should still be given to the native varieties still present and those forgotten over the years. This gives a broader view of space and time and ensures respect for every single life-form, whether present or past, and thus worthy of survival. The latest wine I have created is called Ampelio and is perhaps the clearest embodiment of my philosophy, since it comes from a blend of three native grapes, Sangiovese, Ciliegiolo and Alicante, the first of which has been grown since Etruscan times, while the other two were brought later from other countries. The name Ampelio, which recalls a form of traditional place-name now dying out (Saturno, Alisardo, Giocondo, Olmo etc.) was chosen in memory of an old farmer friend, whose hands moved as he tended his vineyard like those of an artist, in an exquisite blend of grace and necessity.