Winemaker Notes
The estate, which bears the name of a noble family from Montepulciano, was taken over in 2009 by the Belgian Virginie Saverys. In a decade, under her leadership, Avignonesi has become the largest regenerative wine estate in Italy. Out of respect for workers, consumers and the environment, Virginie Saverys has banned highly toxic synthetic biocides - alas too widespread in the wine world - which poison populations, soils, air and water. Concurrently, the cellar has forbidden the use of yeasts, dyes, enzymes, tannins and other industrial biochemical adjuvants. Finally, Avignonesi is vigorously pursuing an energy transition policy to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions drastically. Avignonesi is a benefit company and is a certified B Corporation. We are part of a global movement for an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy.
Convinced that there are no great wines without good grapes, Virginie focused her efforts on rehabilitating viticulture while giving the cellar a more supervisory than interventionist role.
Beyond giving nature back her rights, Avignonesi also fosters the authenticity of its products. Virginie Saverys and her team have developed a modern style of refreshing, fruit-driven wine where elegance prevails. In short, wines that are a pleasure to drink.
Avignonesi owns about 434 acres of fully certified organic and biodynamic vineyards. All wines are vegan and are made exclusively with grapes cultivated on the estate.
This significant Tuscan village—not to be confused with the red grape of the same name widely grown in Abruzzo and the Marche regions—was home to one of the first four Italian DOCGs granted in 1980.
Based on the Sangiovese grape (here called Prugnolo Gentile), the village’s prized wine called Vino Nobile di Montepulciano ranks stylistically in between Chianti Classico, for its finesse, and Brunello di Montalcino for its power. With a deep ruby color, heavy concentration and a firm structure given by the village's heavy, cool clay soils, most Vino Nobile di Montepulciano will demand some bottle age.
Apart from the classics, we find many regional gems of different styles.
Late harvest wines are probably the easiest to understand. Grapes are picked so late that the sugars build up and residual sugar remains after the fermentation process. Ice wine, a style founded in Germany and there referred to as eiswein, is an extreme late harvest wine, produced from grapes frozen on the vine, and pressed while still frozen, resulting in a higher concentration of sugar. It is becoming a specialty of Canada as well, where it takes on the English name of ice wine.
Vin Santo, literally “holy wine,” is a Tuscan sweet wine made from drying the local white grapes Trebbiano Toscano and Malvasia in the winery and not pressing until somewhere between November and March.
Rutherglen is an historic wine region in northeast Victoria, Australia, famous for its fortified Topaque and Muscat with complex tawny characteristics.