Tenuta l'Impostino - Impostino - Montecucco Red D.O.C.

Data Sheet

Name: Impostino

Appellation: Montecucco Red D.O.C.

Grapes: 80% Sangiovese - 20% Merlot, Syrah,

Vineyard: Querciolaia

Planting year: 2003

Characteristics of the soil: clayey, fertile, with a good quantity of organic matter and rich of thin skeleton

Exposition: west

Altitude: 350 m asl

Planting density: 5.500 plants/ha

Pruning system: spurred cordon (Royat cordon)

Yield per hectare: 7 tonnes

Harvest: manual in boxes, at the end of September

Vinication: the grapes carefully harvested are manually selected on a sorting belt in the winery, before the beginning of the alcoholic fermentation with selected yeasts, at a constant temperature of 26°C. The maceration is about 12 days long, with pumpovers exposed to the air till the end of the fermentation.

Duration of the alcoholic fermentation: 10-12 days

Malolactic fermentation: spontaneously in cement tanks

Maturation: 12 months in 42 hl barrels and cement on its lees

Aging: 6 months in bottle

Analytical bottling data: alcohol: 14,2 %vol, residual sugar: 2,1 g/l, total acidity: 5,1 g/l, pH: 3,51, volatile acidity: 0,38 g/l, total dry extract: 32 g/l

La Season

One of the best season for a production of great importance wines in the Maremma inland, on high hills and well ventilated areas as ours. A regular winter has left place to a hot spring, with few rainfall and a good ventilation. The summer had been very dicult with the second half of August, which scored temperatures above the average for this season. During this period our deep and rich of skeleton soils had been fundamental, they succeeded to keep the coolness and to keep the plant only in a light water stress without interruption of the physiological activity. Our agronomical choices went to reduce the production through a heavy bunches thinning. These choices drove us to obtain concentrated but equilibrated wines, rich of sapidity and with intense and persisting fragrance.

Tasting Notes

Of a deep and dense ruby colour, it impresses for the intensity of the fragrance, clean, rich of avours with dominant notes of red pulp such as well matured cherry and blackberry and with a hint of jam. Following it vegetal notes appear of hay, warm spices and a tip of wood to extend its bouquet. It is warm, soft, full-bodied to taste, with a remarkable balance, where the freshness and the tannin well balance the alcohol charge. The nal result long and very satisfying.

Food Pairings

It is a wine of great versatility and it elegantly joins important cold cuts and seasoned cheese, main dishes with spicy notes, such as roe deer “pappardelle” or “carbonara”, which enhance its soft and enveloping notes. It is a natural companion to meat dishes, of which with no doubts it prefers the roast cooking, and it is perfect with the “cacciatora” rabbit, the chicken “in scottiglia” and the lamb chops.

Tenuta l'Impostino

Our estate is located exactly on the ancient road that connected  Siena to Grosseto, necessary way of passage for freight and passengers, for whatever reason they had to go in Maremma.

The  importance of the passage is documented and remembered even today by the names that relate to "matters of the trip", as Dogana (the Customs) or Paganico, location clearly delegated to the collection of tolls and to control the passage of travelers.

Among them, stands the name "Imposto" as it is repeated with some regularity along the way: it refers to the places where it was possible for the official messengers to rest and change horses, or for simple travelers to find rest and food.

Only in one case, however, the reference point was so popular that in the place not one but two “Imposti” arose, so that to distinguish them, one of the two was called "Impostino" (the small “Imposto”).

Just on that site, which later on became a farm, today our estate is established, with its deep roots in the history of these wonderful places.

As an homage to the great tradition of the place and in reference to the company identity, the wine that best represents our production  philosophy bears the name of the estate itself.

It is made of 80% Sangiovese, with Merlot, Syrah and Petit Verdot, aged for 2 years in steel tanks, but with a light passage in wood.

Served ay 16-18° goes well with aged cheese and meats, game meat pasta dishes and meat dishes in general. It exalts on roasted lamb and chicken.