It is an excellent red from only sangiovese grapes that has become one of the most sought-after Tuscan wines: Le Pergole Torte from the Montevertine winery. A cult wine by now, most recognizable by its unmistakable label that features a different female face for each vintage. It was first produced in 1977 by Sergio Manetti, a former steel industrialist from Poggibonsi, who began making wine with the idea of making it for friends in the late 1960s on his new country estate in Montevertine, a small medieval hamlet in the Radda in Chianti district.
Sergio was advised by a fellow citizen, Giulio Gambelli, a great connoisseur and admirer of Sangiovese, a voice out of the chorus in the wine scene of the time. The early years were one of experimentation, and as early as 1973, Chianti Classico Montevertine was also exported to the US. In those years, white grapes were eliminated from the blend, and by the late 1970s, the name Montevertine began to appear in all the wine magazines as one of the best examples of Chianti Classico.
And in 1977, “Le Pergole Torte,” the first Sangiovese vinified in purity ever made in the area, was born. Others had also tried something similar, such as San Felice winery’s Vigorello in ’68 and Monsanto winery’s Sangioveto in ’74. A pure Sangiovese was an innovative, almost revolutionary wine, a wine that went beyond the Chianti tradition that had never been for single-vineyard, so much so that Manetti’s wine in the early 1980s was rejected by the Chianti Classico consortium, as it did not meet the production parameters since it did not include the other grapes stipulated in the disciplinary of the time.
From 1977 until 1981, Le Pergole Torte was packaged with a traditional label, but from 1982, following Sergio Manetti’s meeting with the famous Emilian artist Alberto Manfredi, the label changed and featured a woman’s face surrounded by some glasses, in the unmistakable style of the Reggio Emilia painter. Up to and including 1987, only three bottles of a case of 12 bore this “artistic” label, but perhaps also because of the massive success with the public, in 1988, Sergio decided to put his friend Alberto’s label on all the bottles until the 1998 bottle, the last one created by Alberto Manfredi before his death in 2001, a few months after Sergio Manetti’s.
Thanks to the vast archive of works in the hands of the Manfredi family and those in the Manetti home, the heirs, in the name of the friendship bound, the two agreed to continue placing work by the master on each new vintage of the wine. After Sergio’s passing, the Montevertine winery is run by Martino, his son, who, among its many merits, in addition to his undoubted managerial skills, boasts that he has remained a faithful continuer of his father’s philosophy, continuing to produce extraordinary wines with the same methodology: alcoholic and malolactic fermentation in concrete tanks, aging in medium-toast Allier barriques in the first year and Slavonian oak barrels in the second; no filtration or clarification, bottling by gravity and resting in bottles for six months before release.
Le pergole Torte is a highly sought-after, long-lived wine that if not purchased on release, immediately increases in price. Today the winery has 18 hectares under organic cultivation, and in addition to the celebrated Le Pergole Torte it produces Pian del Ciampolo from Sangiovese, Colorino, and Canaiolo grapes aged in Slavonian oak barrels for about 12 months and Montevertine, from Sangiovese, Colorino and Canaiolo grapes aged in Slavonian oak barrels for about 24 months, both with Toscana Rosso IGT designation. Customers can find 2017, 2018, and 2019 vintages between 220 and 240 euros. For 2015 and 2016, we are around 300 euros.
Here are my tasting notes of a bottle of the 2018 vintage, drunk a few months ago. The wine presents itself in the glass with a deep ruby color with garnet highlights. It has a complex and captivating nose in which notes of small red fruits and violets are joined by leather, tobacco, and hints of smoke. In the mouth, the wine is smoothly endowed with sweet, velvety tannins counterbalanced by fresh acidity and a savory note that lengthens the sip. This is an elegant wine with excellent drinkability and a lingering finish. A great drink!
