VALDARNO: TUSCANY OFF THE BEATEN TRACK

Diverting from the usual wine routes in Tuscany, Stephen Brook finds a warm welcome in a low-key region that is home to some high-profile names. He introduces an area that may be unfamiliar to many Chianti lovers, and recommends wines from four of its top producers

- Stephen Brook

Don’t forget my shoe size!’ shouted my wife, as I left home on my way to Heathrow airport for my flight to Florence. This unusual injunction was occasioned by the fact that three out of the four estates I was about to visit were owned by fashion tycoons, and two of them by shoe designers.

Valdarno di Sopra (Valdarno for short) is a relatively new Tuscan DOC that was approved in 2011. It lies just east of the Chianti Classico zone, stretching across the Arno river in the direction of Arezzo. It is the first Italian DOC to be composed entirely of organic estates.

It’s a region of mystery, as I discovered when spending an hour with the secretary of the DOC. Its potential surface is an impressive 2,200ha, but only a fraction of that is declared as Valdarno, since many growers sell their crop to large producers such as Antinori. Some of those who do sell their wines in bottle prefer to use the Chianti DOCG or the Toscana IGP. I wanted to know how many hectares are actually declared as Valdarno wines, but no figures are available. However, by the end of 2019, some 300,000 bottles carried the DOC label. The rules are not exacting: a wide range of grape varieties is permitted, and yields are the same as for Chianti. Nor are there any rules about the use of wood. So growers can do pretty much as they please.

‘The DOC,’ explained the secretary, ‘is a work in progress. It is not a cage.’

That also means it is not that well known. Fortunately the four largest producers in the region all validate the DOC, even if not all their wines bear the Valdarno name.