'Piropo' Castello di Potentino, IGT Toscana 2017

This is delicious and complex wine made by Charlotte Horton of Castello di Potentino, entirely from Pinot Noir. A very serious, oak aged wine which has a long life ahead of it and gives excellent value for money. The land lies in a sheltered valley used since Etruscan times for the production of wine, it benefits from volcanic terroir and a micro-climate which produces this brilliant depth to the Pinot Noir. Piropo is the gemstone pyrope, a rare type of garnet which has a purple tonality and was used as a poetic metaphor for wine from Tuscany by Renaissance writers. A top FVD recommendation.

About Castello di Potentino:
The setting couldn’t be more idyllic, where four, rolling hectares of vineyard surround the 14th-century Castello di Potentino and on a site dating as far back as the mid-11th century. For some, it’s the most beautiful wine estate in all Tuscany. Here, very near to the Brunello di Montalcino denominazione, English proprietors Charlotte Horton and Alexander Greene have been making wine organically since having begun their renovation of the building in 2000.

Owing to the area’s unique micro-climate and mixed volcanic soils, the Greenes are able to grow three of the most site-sensitive varietals together in one small vineyard: Sangiovese, Pinot Noir and Alicante. Their delicious, handmade wines undergo minimum intervention, whereby varietals express their essence – here, ever so seductively.