On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Chianti Rufina Riserva DOCG Vigneto Bucerchiale, Fattoria Selvapiana is the protagonist of a dedicated article on the Jancisrobinson.com website.

We report the complete article below, while at this link you can read the article on Jancisrobinson.com.

Single-vineyard wines are all the rage all over the world now but the Selvapiana estate in Chianti Rufina has been producing its Bucerchiale bottling since 1979 and, with the recent release of the 2019, is celebrating the wine’s 40th anniversary.

I’ve long enjoyed the special character of Selvapiana’s wine (and olive oil). The wines have always been lighter and fresher than many Chianti Classicos, thanks to the cooling breezes that reliably blow down the Sieve Valley, one of very few Apennine valleys that run north–south. The Bucerchiale vineyard is at 220 m (660 ft), much lower than the highest Chianti Classico vineyards.

Selvapiana, a 245-ha (605-acre) estate just north of the town of Pontassieve east of Florence, has been in the Giuntini family since 1827 and is now run by Federico Giuntini Masseti, who brought the eight wines described and pictured below to our London flat to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Bucerchiale and to demonstrate just how well it ages. (I was all set to taste the wines last September but couldn’t owing to a cancelled flight.) He is now assisted by Niccolo, the oldest of his four sons.

The estate has 22 ha of olives and 60 ha (148 acres) of vineyards, 95% of them planted with Sangiovese. Most of the vineyards, on the foothills of the Apennines, face west but the 12-ha (30-acre) Bucerchiale vineyard pictured above faces south-west. It was first planted in 1968 and there has been some replanting since then, although vines have to be at least 10 years old before their produce is considered for the single-vineyard bottling.

Bucerchiale is produced only in the best years so there was no 1980, 1984, 1997, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2008, 2021 and very little 2014. So clearly the wine is not primarily designed as a money-making exercise. Indeed the estate as a whole ran at a loss until the 1980s ‘because it was a Chianti’ according to Giuntini Masseti, who said the turning point came when sharecropping farmers were replaced by hired staff.

Giuntini Masseti’s predecessor Francesco Giuntini (who was married to an Antinori so very much part of the Tuscan establishment) was determined that this wine from his best vineyard should be 100% Sangiovese. This was at a time when Tuscany’s signature grape was viewed as something decidedly inferior to the French imports such as Cabernet and Merlot that were then so fashionable in Italy. It’s worth pointing out that when the wine was launched in 1979, 100% Sangiovese Chianti was illegal. Initially the wine was labelled with the logo of the VIDE association of ambitious Italian wine producers encouraged by the late wine writer Luigi Veronelli.

Giuntini Masseti took over the estate in the late 1980s and instituted longer macerations, ‘sometimes too long’, he admits. In his search for purity he has settled on 30 to 35 days with no submerged cap. Fermentations are always spontaneous.

In the 1970s Bucerchiale’s Sangiovese grapes weren’t picked until the end of October. Today it’s more likely to be late September although in 2019 it was mid September. Giuntini Masseti admitted that another climate-change effect is that pHs have been on the rise and he no longer chaptalises. The concentrator, as in so many wineries that invested in them in the late-20th-century era in which alcohol was so celebrated, has been packed away.

At one stage – the concentrator stage – all the wine was aged in barriques. ‘We made some mistakes – too much new oak, especially with the 1994.’ Up to and including the glorious 1985 vintage the wine was aged in big, old chestnut casks. Nowadays the wine is aged in a 50:50 mix of small and big oak and Giuntini Masseti feels confident he is making better and better wine – ‘purer’.

In this tasting of 2019, 2013, 2009, 2006, 1999, 1985 and the very mature 1982 and 1979, the debut vintage, I really appreciated the vintage differences. The evolution of the 1979 suggests that the 2019 has a great future ahead of it. For the moment, the standout vintage is the 2013, but the 2006, 1999 and, especially, 1985 (remember Sassicaia 1985?) are also really inspiring, demonstrating there is more to Chianti than Chianti Classico.

The wines are presented below in the order tasted.

See also Bucerchiale 2003 back to 1999 written in 2007, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of Selvapiana’s UK importers Liberty Wines.

Selvapiana, Vigneto Bucerchiale Riserva 1979 Chianti Rufina

Very little sediment because it spent more than five years in old barrels!
Transparent ruby. Light-bodied but with a fresh and minty nose. Light and chestnutty. Fine and fresh. Only the vestiges of the fruit is left and it’s now a little mushroomy.

12%

Drink: 1984– 2014

16.5

Selvapiana, Vigneto Bucerchiale Riserva 1982 Chianti Rufina

Mid ruby. Light nose. Lots of acidity and freshness and pure, classic Sangiovese. Light-bodied but well knit together and pure. A bit drying on the end. But there’s still some vitality.

13%

Drink: 1987 – 2016

16.5

Selvapiana, Vigneto Bucerchiale Riserva 1985 Chianti Rufina

A stellar vintage with a little frost in spring; the crop was reduced by 30%. According to Federico Giuntini Masseti, ‘1985 demonstrated that Sangiovese wasn’t the problem but the way we grew it – we needed to reduce yields’.
Dark garnet still! This tastes like a young wine! Gorgeous! Freshness and tang and very pure Sangiovese. Very much a food wine. Long and quite delicious.

12.5%

Drink: 1992 – 2030

18.5

Selvapiana, Vigneto Bucerchiale Riserva 1999 Chianti Rufina

Dark crimson. Firm and concentrated. This almost smells as though there were some Cabernet in it! Big and sweet palate entry and firm finish with still quite a bit of tannin. Very serious wine that has aged very slowly.

14%

Drink: 2007– 2030

17 +

Selvapiana, Vigneto Bucerchiale Riserva 2006 Chianti Rufina

From a neglected but very classic vintage.
Deep garnet. Very pure and polished tannins. Really convincing fruit and chewiness. Rich and round with a note of unsweetened chocolate.

14.5%

Drink: 2015– 2035

17.5

Selvapiana, Vigneto Bucerchiale Riserva 2009 Chianti Rufina

Transparent garnet. Closed nose. Lots of fine tannins and embryonic fruit. Very tight and a bit grainy-textured on the end. Needs time – more time than the 2013.

14.5%

Drink: 2024– 2040

16.5 ++

Selvapiana, Vigneto Bucerchiale Riserva 2013 Chianti Rufina

Cooler vintage.
Notably savoury nose with notes of Marmite (yeast extract). Fine and richly fruited, this wine offers masses of pleasure already. Lovely for drinking now, with a mintiness and rich fruit.

14.5%

Drink: 2021– 2040

18

Selvapiana, Vigneto Bucerchiale Riserva 2019 Chianti Rufina

Aged for 18 months in oak and then at least a year in bottle.
First bottle: TCA affected. Second bottle: transparent garnet. Different nose from the older vintages! Sweeter and still very fresh and this difference is possibly just because the wine is younger and lower in acidity. Quite a bit of fine tannin. Still very youthful.

14%

Drink: 2026 – 2042

£36 RRP

16.5 ++