2021 Corzano e Paterno Chianti Terre di Corzano

The estate’s core wine is the Chianti Terre di Corzano, which translates as ‘soils of Corzano’. It’s a blend of 90% Sangiovese co-fermented with 10% Canaiolo, all hand-harvested from Corzano’s rocky, south-facing slopes. The soils here are what the Italians call alberese—compact clay/limestone littered with pebbles—which tends to yield particularly aromatic reds. Incorporating 15% whole bunches, the wine was naturally fermented and aged in a combination of 25- and 40-hectolitre botti, a traditional maturation that has become rare in today’s barrique-obsessed Tuscany. Arianna Gelpke enjoys the softening impact of large-format wood on Sangiovese tannins, and we can only agree. From an outstanding vintage, Corzano’s transparent style, emphasising purity of fruit, is in full flight. It’s bursting with the essence of hillside Sangiovese, with fresh cherry and berry aromas and a refined and silky palate perfectly framed by cooling bergamot tang and feathery tannins. The Canaiolo brings a dab of spice to the palette of cherry, liquorice and woodland complexity that builds to a juicy finish. It’s welcoming right down to the final swallow; a moreish snapshot of the Florentine hills.

Character and soul. If we’re talking frankly, these are not virtues we typically associate with the modern-day wines of Chianti. Yet there are obviously exceptions and one of these is Aljoscha Goldschmidt’s Corzano e Paterno. With a dirt-under-the-fingernails approach, Goldschmidt and his team craft a small yet vibrant collection of wines from the steep, stony slopes of San Casciano in Val di Pesa, just south of Florence, on the Chianti Classico border.

Aljoscha (or Joshi) loves to do everything by hand, making him unique in the Tuscan wine scene. Here, consultants with new oak and viticultural gizmos are not welcome, and stately buildings, manicured gardens and tourist trap paraphernalia are replaced by a naturally beautiful working farm in the hills, studded with ancient buildings that have been tastefully maintained (you can rent these farmhouses, an option that we very highly recommend!).

An intuitive viticulturist, driven by his own philosophy about authenticity and sense of place, Goldschmidt's current crop of wines sing of their homeland while also delivering fabulous drinkability and genuine value.

The winery has just what is required to make pure, expressive wines—including some large format oak (a rarity in Chianti). The wines are fashioned from ripe, juicy Sangiovese with a rare patience and a kind of pastoral serenity. They are complemented by some of Italy’s finest Pecorino, made from the estate’s own Sardinian sheep. In fact, in Italy, Corzano is as well known for its cheese as it is for its wine and supplies many top Italian restaurants. On a recent visit we asked Aljoscha if we could ship some of his cheese to the Australian market. “I’m so sorry,” he said in his gentle voice. “We do not have any to sell. We do not want to grow and if we started exporting, we would have to cut our allocations to our oldest clients which would not be fair.” It’s hard to argue with such integrity no matter how delicious the product.

Corzano also produces one of Tuscany’s most intense small batch olive oils. In fact, everything the Corzano e Paterno farm produces tastes fresh and delicious, and everyone who works at the estate exudes both a sense of purpose and a down to earth, unpretentious, bucolic warmth which comes through in the products of this communal style farm. Visiting there and staying on the farm, you get the impression that produce is solely being created to cater for the collection of craftsmen, artists and artisans who inhabit the Corzano estate, such is the non-commercial atmosphere. Somehow this makes the wines taste even better.