Great wines, territories of absolute beauty and art: this is the week of the “Anteprime di Toscana”

Tuscany, a very strong brand in the world, for wine, for sure, but linked to the beauty of a landscape that goes from the slopes of the Apennines to the Tyrrhenian coast, and to those of a history that goes back to the splendor of the Renaissance in Florence and the Middle Ages in Siena, is ready to tell the world, in the great round of the “Antiprime di Toscana”, in its capital, and in the many territories of great prestige. With its great wines “sung” over the centuries by famous artists such as Dante, Boccaccio, Michelangelo, Vasari or Redi, ready to look to the future with their new vintages. Tuscany - the strength of a wine that focuses more and more on this brand (as recounted by the birth of the Consortium that will manage the IGT Toscana, or the initiative of the Consortium of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, which has obligatorily included the word Toscana for its wines on the label), which gets stronger of a widespread wealth, which comes from 59,000 hectares of vineyards where some of the most famous wines in the world are produced (95.8% DOCg or Doc, significantly better than the national average of 62%), for a production in 2019 of almost 2.6 million hectoliters, and an export which, if in 2018 was close to one billion euros in value, between January and September 2019 it grew by 6.6%, reaching 734 million euros in the first nine months of the year alone.
A wealth, that of Tuscan wine, which is increasingly linked to tourism, but also to art and architecture, thanks to the initiatives of many enlightened producers of the territory. A unique heritage, which will be at the center of the world in the “Week of the Anteprime di Toscana”, a week “under the Tuscan wine”, where the great wines of the territory will be tasted, reflecting on the “vision 2030” of the Tuscan wine, between markets, wine tourism and innovation. It will start from Florence, Saturday, February 15, at the Fortezza da Basso, with the great tasting of wines of destinations such as Maremma Toscana, Montecucco, Carmignano, Colline Lucchesi, Valdarno di Sopra, Orcia, Consorzio Terre di Pisa and Consorzio Chianti Rufina. Designations less in the spotlight than others that are perhaps better known, but no less rich in history and capable of surprise. A day where there will be a discussion on the prospects of Tuscan wine, in a round table with the Councillor for Agriculture of the Tuscany Region Marco Remaschi, guests and experts, moderated by Nicola Prudente, alias Tinto, host of Decanter Rai Radio2 and #MPEF La7, Fabio del Bravo of Ismea, Francesco Mazzei, president of Avito (the association of all Tuscan wine consortiums), Donatella Cinelli Colombini, president of the Consorzio Vino Orcia, Roberto Scalacci of the Tuscany Region will talk about the new Pac 2021-2027. While Professor Attilio Scienza, one of the top experts in Viticulture at the University of Milan, will talk about the enological experiment that has retraced, after 2,500 years, the production of the legendary wine of the island of Chios, with the producer Antonio Arrighi who will lead the tasting of the last 8 bottles of Nesos, the marine wine made on the island of Elba in the manner of the ancient Greeks. There will also be the presentation of the Consortium that from now on will manage the IGT Toscana, a product that, alongside the great Doc and Docg of the territory, will be able to give a great boost to the growth of the wine of Tuscany.

From Sunday, February 16, then, there will be the great names of the Grand Duchy. And with the two most “pop” wines, Chianti, with Chianti Lovers, with the 2019 vintage and the 2017 Riserva in the subzones Rufina, Colli Fiorentini, Colli Senesi, Colli Aretini, Montalbano, Colline Pisane, and Montespertoli, together, as has been the case for years, with Morellino di Scansano, the enological pearl of the Maremma, again with the 2019 vintage and the 2017 Riserva, still in the Fortezza da Basso, in Florence. On Monday 17 and Tuesday 18, instead, at the historic Stazione Leopolda, the protagonist will be the oldest designation of the Region, Chianti Classico, one of the most beautiful wine territories in the world (between Renaissance Florence and medieval Siena), whose boundaries were established over 300 years ago by Grand Duke Cosimo III de’ Medici, in the announcement “Above the Declaration of Borders of the four Regions of Chianti, Pomino and Rufina, Carmignano, and Val d'Arno di Sopra”, with over 200 producers of the Gallo Nero, the highest number ever, who, in the Chianti Classico Collection, will present vintage 2018, Riserva 2017 and Gran Selezione 2016. On Wednesday 19, instead, the “circus” of the Anteprime will move to San Gimignano, the “New York” of the Middle Ages, where, within the walls of the Rocca di Montestaffoli, there will be the new vintages of Vernaccia, the white diamond of wine in a region of great reds, already sung by Dante in the Divine Comedy, with the 2019 vintage and the 2018 Riserva. On Thursday 20, instead, it will be the Medici Fortress of Montepulciano, “of every wine the king”, as the poet and doctor Redi wrote, to host Anteprima Vino Nobile, with the vintage 2017 and the Riserva 2016 of the polychrome version of Sangiovese, which here is called Prugnolo Gentile, and which is aged in modern and designer cellars, but also in caves dating back to the Etruscan period, or kept in Renaissance palaces.

And then the closing, as always, is entrusted to the most prestigious standard bearer of Tuscan wine, Brunello di Montalcino, with a “Benvenuto Brunello” that will see in the glass the already celebrated 2015 vintage, together with the Riserva 2014 and the Rosso di Montalcino 2018, among the stones that exude history of the Chiostro Museo di Montalcino and the Complesso di Sant’Agostino. And where wine, territory and art will be discussed with the famous critic and historian Vittorio Sgarbi, with a lection magistralis on the relationship between beauty, viticulture, landscape and art, while the iconic tile celebrating the stars of the last harvest, 2019, will be created by Giovanni Malago, president of Coni - Italian National Olympic Committee and member of the International Olympic Committee. With the good hope that, just as Brunello di Montalcino is one of the “gold medal” wines in the world, there will be many Italian medals to toast with the great Tuscan red wine at the Olympics in Tokyo 2020.