Winemaker Notes
With vintages dating back to 1925 in their cellar, Villa di Capezzana is the flagship wine of the Tenuta di
Capezzana estate and representative of Carmignano's greatest quality. Created as one of the very first
protected wine-producing regions in Italy, the history of Carmignano dates back to 1716 when Cosimo
III de' Medici granted the area special legal protections which prohibited other regions from using the
name "Carmignano" for their wines.
Blend: 80% Sangiovese, 20% Cabernet
Disenchanted with Italian winemaking laws in the 1970s, a few rebellious Tuscan winemakers decided to get creative. Instead of following tradition, to bottle Sangiovese by itself, they started blending it with international varieties, namely Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah in differing proportions and with amazing success. However, some Tuscan Blends don’t even include Sangiovese. Somm Secret—The suffix –aia in Italian modifies a word in much the same way –y acts in English. For example, a place with many stones (sassi) becomes Sassicaia. While not all Super Tuscan producer names end in –aia, they all share a certain coy nomenclature.
With recorded history of red wine production since the Middle Ages, Carmignano is a small, ancient, central Italian subregion ten miles northwest of Florence. Carmignano grows Sangiovese with great success in low-lying hills of 160 to 650 feet above sea level.
It is the only Tuscan DOC that required the inclusion of (up to 20%) Cabernet Sauvignon in its Sangiovese-based wines years before it became popular in the Super Tuscan blends.