Parallelo 43: a borderless wine tasting in Montalcino

Parallelo 43 examines whether places separated by seas, mountains, political boundaries and denomination histories can share meaningful relationships through latitude, light and vegetative cycles. The 43rd parallel passes from Georgia and the Caucasus through the Mediterranean, Toscana, Marche and Umbria, then toward the Basque Country, Languedoc, Oregon and Japan.

Latitude is presented as an exploratory viewpoint rather than a substitute for terroir or a completed scientific theory. The project brings together varieties whose histories remained parallel: Vermentino and Verdicchio, Sangiovese and Montepulciano, and Sangiovese, Montepulciano and Sagrantino. Some are blended, while others ferment together.

The six-wine route moves from Altrove and the three Punti to Pigreco and Quadratura del Cerchio. Altrove reuses healthy crop-thinning fruit through rosé vinification and Charmat refermentation. Punto Bianco connects the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic sides through Vermentino and Verdicchio; Punto Rosa joins two harvest moments of Sangiovese; the red wines test progressively more complex relationships among the central Italian varieties.