Tradition Rebooted

Two winemakers are set on reclaiming Tuscany’s winemaking glory by very different means

- Sarah Heller MW

Wine is an arena in which novelty and tradition are engaged in a complex and never-ending act of switcheroo. I was struck by this recently in contemplating two members of Italy’s wine elite—both Tuscan, both sangiovese—one of which could be characterised as an embodiment of newness, the other the culmination of centuries of tradition, the two unexpectedly simpatico in spirit. Never has Tuscany seen such a tranquil dichotomy.

NEW OLD / OLD NEW

Perhaps in reaction to an evermore globalised world, recent popular wine opinion has swung decisively towards tradition, granting even once-maligned but historical names such as Chianti a shot at a return to grace. The “traditional” wine of the pair I considered (though ironically the newer project of the two) is the most ambitious yet of the Chianti Classico Gran Selezione. “Gran Selezione”—stipulating estate-grown fruit as well as a maturation time exceeding that of the former pinnacle, Riserva—is a classification aimed squarely at the collector market.

With its first vintage released in 2015, Il Caggio Ipsus is a tiny-production (3,600-bottle) estate wine from the deep-rooted Mazzei family; one ancestor, Ser Lapo Mazzei, penned a 1398 document that is the earliest known reference to Chianti wine. Spearheaded by 25th-generation descendant Giovanni Mazzei, Ipsus surpasses even the trio of Gran Selezione wines produced by the Mazzei’s historic Castello di Fonterutoli, in the family since 1435, and is priced less like something bearing the name “Chianti” and more like a top Super Tuscan.