Elsa IGT Toscana Rosso 2024

A Sangiovese of cool clarity and great drinkability: silky texture, fresh and energetic acidity, earthy base. At 12.0% Vol., the wine stays light without feeling thin.

The grapes come from a roughly one-hectare Brunello vineyard towards Castelnuovo dell'Abate, which Sabine and Felix Eichbauer acquired in 2019; the Sangiovese Grosso planted there is 20 years old. Podere Salicutti farms 4.5 hectares in Montalcino on 60- to 80-million-year-old marl soils, 35 kilometres from the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Pure Sangiovese Grosso. The best rows of the vineyard were vinified separately. After fermentation, the juice macerated on the skins for around three weeks, then aged 18 months in an eight-hectolitre amphora and a further six months in bottle. Cellar master Gianni Fabbri oversees the work in the cellar.

The wine opens with sweet cherries, mingled with a touch of sour cherries, followed by plums and dark raspberries. Beneath lie violet blossoms, macchia herbs, cherry stones, leather and damp forest floor. Fresh, cool facets sit alongside warmer ones, the tannins are fine-grained, and the wine stays juicy right through to the finish.

Elsa is named after the daughter of Sabine and Felix Eichbauer. Since the grapes come from classified vineyards, the wine could be labelled Rosso di Montalcino, but ageing in amphora doesn't comply with the statutes. In 1996, Salicutti became the first winery in Montalcino to receive organic certification; since 2022 it has worked entirely biodynamically according to Demeter guidelines and belongs to the respekt-BIODYN association.