Producer
The Mancini family have made wine here for five generations, and current owner Luigi Mancini’s fascination is with more unusual grape varieties: either the Pinot Noir brought to this particular part of the northern Marches by the French two hundred years ago, or local treasures like Ancellotta and Albanella. In clay-limestone soil, with temperatures moderated by the Adriatic, these varieties thrive alongside the more mainstream Sangiovese and Montepulciano.
Vineyard
Mancini’s Sangiovese grows on the coastal hills of the San Bartolo Natural Park in the far north of the Marche region. The cool microclimate and the sandy soils of the coastal cliffs imbue this Sangiovese with distinctive characteristics versus those produced further south. Grapes were handharvested and transported to the winery in a mobile cooling cellar.
Winery
The morning after the harvest, the grapes were destemmed and pressed at around 9°C. Fermentation took place in temperature-controlled tanks with a combination of délestage, pumping over and punch downs for around fifteen days. Malolactic fermentation was then carried out in barrel. The maturation period was eleven months, with fifty percent of the wine aged on its lees in French oak barrels, and fifty percent in stainless steel.