Castello di Querceto: the Philosophy of their Cru Wines
“There are 650 producers of Chianti Classico but only 18 have been owned by the same family for more than 100 years,” notes punctually Alessandro François, who runs Castello di Querceto together with his wife Antonietta Corsi.
François and the recreation of the old fashioned winery
The winery is located in the hills of Greve in Chianti, not too far from Florence, and was started in 1897 by his grandfather Carlo François, who transformed an ancient rural homestead into a flourishing agricultural business. “In 1981 I decided to leave Milano and my position as an industrial engineer in order to completely dedicate my life to the winery,” continues François. “When I arrived in Castello di Querceto with my wife Antonietta there was a lot to do here. The winery was a bit old fashioned and the viticulural practices not what we wanted so we truly recreated the winery.” There were planted 35 hectares of vines, for the most part Sangiovese grosso in the cordon spurred and guyot styles. They also planted the first experimental vines of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. At the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the new Millennium, they planted a second wave of international varieties, in order to experiment them with their terroir. Currently, the property is 190 hectares, 60 of which are planted with vines, five with olive trees and the remaining 125 hectares are forest. We are at 400-500 feet above sea level, in a thin strip of land north of the Chianti mountains with a specific terroir.
The production of Cru wines from each vine
“Thanks to the notable heterogenous nature of our soils, we decided to produce Cru wines from each vine. It seemed like the best way to showcase the particularity of our vineyards.” The grape variety planted is Sangiovese grosso, from which all of the great Chianti Classico are created and which are destined to be sold throughout the world (export sales are 95% of their business). They offer three versions of Chianti: Vintage, Riserva and Gran Selezione, the very recent classifi cation that was introduced into the legal rules governing Chianti. “To tell you the truth, the only thing we needed to add was the name on the label ‘Gran Selezione’ because we have been making our Cru Chianti Classico Il Picchio since 1988 according to the rules that now govern ‘Gran Selezione‘. We’ve been doing it for 27 years!” At Vinitaly and during VinoVip Cortina, we will present our newest project, QueRceto Romantic, a SuperTuscan made from a blend of Petit Verdot, Merlot e Syrah. “This is a special wine for aging that will likely become the pinnacle of our wine offering,” said Alessandro François. Whoever gets to drink it will decide.
PICCHIO – GRAN SELEZIONE
Grapes Sangiovese 95%, Canaiolo, Ciliegiolo, Mammolo, Malvasia nera e Colorino 5%
Composition of the soil schist Vinifi cation and aging fermentation and maceration on the skins for 15 days at 28- 30 Celsius, aged in Allier and Limousin barriques for 12 months and then for a few months in the bottle
Total acidity 4.92 g/l pH 3.66
Dry Extract 31.06 g/l
Alcohol content 13.5% vol.
Bottles 20000
Price 25 euros
CASTELLO DI QUERCETO
via A. François 2 50020 Greve in Chianti (Firenze)
(055) 85921
querceto@castellodiquerceto.it
Facebook: Castello di Querceto
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