The Wines of TuttoToscana 2018: Fattoria del Teso
By Sarah Cormier, Rachel Eggleston, and Rowan Sanko
Photo by Donald Blair
Tuscany and its Wines students tell us everything we need to know about Fattoria del Teso winery.
Fattoria del Teso is typical Tuscan winery located on the countryside with 70 hectares of land. The winery contains multiple buildings throughout the property, but its main building has its very own unique design architecture that includes a layered roof that overhangs giving the facility a historical tuscan atmosphere. There is also a beautiful bell tower clock that gives that overlooks the day. The underground storage cellars contain the buildings storerooms, coolings, and bottling rooms. The first floor of these rooms contain reed mates for the grapes to dry out. The Vin Santo casks are found on the second floor and are used for aging the wine. The fermentation tanks are found in the front of the building and are completely made out of cement and stainless steel.
The Fattoria del Teso is located in the Municipality of Monte Carlo which is a very historical old village between Lucca and Florence. Because this area has a very cool consistent climate due to the Mediterranean sea and the Apennine mountains. This gives the soil an abundance of nutrients. This area has been known for its rich soils dating back to the ancient Romans when the village was called Vivinaia up until the 1333. Around 1930, this area had a huge shift when a new vine was introduced. In fact, this Montecarlo wine was the wine used at the King of Italy’s wedding.
Montecarlo Bianco:
The Montecarlo Bianco DOC is from the region of Montecarlo which is on the hillside village in the province of Lucca. The grapes that make this wine are the Sauvignon Blanc, Roussanne, Vermentino as well as Trebbiano. The color is most commonly a light straw-yellow and for when it comes to the maturing process of the wine, it takes two months in the bottle. It has a fruity scent with hints of spring flowers and tropical fruit. The flavor is “round” with a snappy and mineral taste in your mouth. When it comes to the aging of the grapes, it takes six months in glazed cement and stainless-steel tanks for it to be completed. The vinification process involves soft pressing, is cold settled and then fermented at a controlled temperature of 17 degrees Celsius. To pair this with food, it would be the ideal pairing to white meat and all types of fish. It should be served around 8 to 12 degrees Celsius.
Montecarlo Vinsanto DOC
Montecarlo Vinsanto was produced to be a dessert wine, paired with small biscuits and dryer pastries. It works well with dry pastries because the wine is so sweet it balances out desserts that are not as sweet. Montecarlo Vinsanto is grown in Montecarlo, in the hillside of the Province of Lucca. What makes this wine special is that after being picked from the field, the grapes are wilted in special reeds in a well ventilated area to develop flavors before being used in fermentation which usually lasts 2 years. After the fermentation, the wine has an amber yellow color to it, with scents of dried fruit such as raisins, apricots and dried fruit. It is ideally left to mature in oak and chestnut carats for about 3 years in addition to the 2 years of fermentation. The wine will begin to taste sweet, warm, and soft after the maturation. The wine can also be left to age in the bottle for years to help develop and round the flavors in the wine.
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