Tenuta di Trinoro Le Cupole 2017

Located in a remote corner of southeastern Tuscany, Tenuta di Trinoro specializes in rich, age-worthy red wines made of Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Petit Verdot. The 200-hectare estate sits in viticultural isolation in the Orcia Valley near Sarteano, where Tuscany meets Umbria and Lazio.

Owner and winemaker Andrea Franchetti acquired the property in the 1980s and in the beginning of the 1990s started planting his first vines. The most important lesson he gleaned from a stint in Bordeaux was the crucial role played by terroir. He saw, in the rough woodland that would become Trinoro, clay-limestone and gravel soils reminiscent of those in Saint-Émilion. Only select parcels were suitable for vine-growing, amid a sea of blue clay, and those he cleared by hand and planted in the style of the Bordelais: high-density, meter-by-meter plantings, with cuttings brought over from some of the region’s great estates.

Placed under a mountain, Tenuta di Trinoro has a mosaic of soils. The vines, densely planted, are more than twenty years old and, with their extended root system, they have become able to render a distinct taste from every terrain of the estate. 22 hectares are under vine, planted between 450 and 600 meters on southwestern facing slopes. Cabernet Franc and Merlot dominate the plantings, with small parcels of Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verot on the perimeter.

Tight planting, high thinning, very low yields, extreme ripeness, and concentration of flavor characterize his winemaking style. The wines are highly perfumed and opulent, at once approachable and meant to be left to develop in the bottle over time.