Fattoria Poggerino Il Labirinto Sangiovese Rosso IGT 2021

Floriana Ginori Conti inherited the winery from her father in the 1970s, and began in 1980 together with her husband Fabrizio Lanza, to produce a Chianti Classico with the “Poggerino” label. The estate has always been ‘organic’. It’s no badge of honor, it’s just how they’ve always done it.

Since 1999, when she handed the reins to her two children, Piero and Benedetta Lanza, the rise has been meteoric. Piero believes that great wines are grown not made and his dedication to his 12 hectares of vineyards borders on the fanatical.

Admittedly, I did lose focus when he went into painstaking detail on green vs brown organic manure-based fertilizer and his unique tests on the proper cycling through of both, for example.

But no one can argue with the results. Within 10 short years, their base Chianti had found a spot at #18 on Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines of the Year.

His ‘Il Labirinto’ is a special Super Tuscan that he makes almost exclusively from Sangiovese. It’s deep and dark, yet still remains light on its feet and has beautifully acidity to perfectly balance it out. This is a food-friendly, serious SuperTuscan at a great price. I’ve never offered up this beauty before now.