About this wine
Vineyard and terroir
Fattoria Nittardi’s vineyards lie between Siena and Florence. The estate has 12 ha of vines, planted on south-facing hills at 450 m above sea level. Oak-covered hills shelter the vineyards from cold winds. The property also includes 4 ha of olive groves and 120 ha of untouched woodland.
Grapes
Carefully selected Sangiovese is blended with a small amount of Merlot.
Vinification
The two varieties are vinified separately. Fermentation takes place in stainless-steel tanks for 15 days at a controlled temperature of 28–30 °C.
Ageing
The wine matures for two years in 225-litre French oak barrels, followed by at least three months in bottle.
Tasting profile
With age, it develops a harmonious character, depth and intensity.
Label / history
The bottle neck bears the black rooster, or Gallo Nero, the emblem of the Chianti Classico producers’ association.
A defensive tower called Nectar Dei stood on the property in the 12th century; Fattoria Nittardi later named one of its wines in its honour. In the 16th century, the estate belonged to Michelangelo Buonarroti, who cultivated grapes and made wine there. In a 1549 letter to his nephew Lionardo, he wrote that he would prefer two barrels of wine to eight shirts. The same correspondence records his sending bottles of Nittardi wine to Rome as a gift for the Pope, identified in the account with Popes Julius II and Leo X.
Since 1982, Fattoria Nittardi has belonged to Frankfurt publisher and art-gallery owner Peter Femfert and his wife Stefania, a Venetian historian.
