Wines

Giovanna and Stefano produce tiny quantities—only 45 hectoliters in 2020—of a skin-contact white wine made from equal parts Trebbiano and Malvasia di Chianti. Fermentation begins spontaneously in open-top acacia casks, and the skins are separated from the juice after ten or so days of maceration; the wine then ages for a full year in a combination of large old acacia, oak, and cherry casks, with no sulfur added at any point. Rich and saline, yet balanced by lifted, tangy acidity, “La Cerretina” offers an infectious combination of complexity and directness.

Only made in certain vintages, Pācina’s “Rosato” is produced from the free-run juice of a single tank of Sangiovese, which ferments naturally in concrete and spends 12 months in well-used 500-liter barrels. No adjustments or additions of any sort—including sulfur—are made during the fermentation or aging, and the wine is released only after additional time resting in bottle. Richly colored and possessing a scrumptious depth of fruit, this is a vinous rosato which speaks frankly of its place of origin.

Giovanna and Stefano produce only 20 hectoliters or so per vintage of pure Canaiolo, from a 0.3-hectare parcel planted in the early 2000s. A rare example of Canaiolo in purezza, this deeply colored yet jubilant wine spends a year in used 225-liter French oak barrels after a spontaneous fermentation in cement, offering a juicier, breezier personality than the other red wines in the Pācina lineup, yet with an equally soil-marked core.

“La Malena” comprises 80% Ciliegiolo and 20% Syrah from a small parcel planted in 1993. After a spontaneous fermentation in concrete tank, it ages 18 months in used 225-liter Allier oak barrels, and is bottled without fining or filtering, and with just a trace of sulfur. The Syrah’s robust spice blends beautifully with the Ciliegiolo’s ripe, mineral-inflected character, offering an alternative yet equally compelling voicing of Pācina’s distinctive terroir.

In 2017, Giovanna and Stefano began producing a young-vines version of their flagship wine, naming it “Donesco”—an anagram for “secondo” (their “second wine”) which nods to the estate’s Etruscan roots, “dono” meaning “gift” and “esco” meaning “emerge” in that ancient tongue. Made from vines around ten years of age, this is aged exclusively in cement tanks, and for a briefer stint than its big brother, offering a similar depth of character on a less firmly structured frame.

Giovanna and Stefano’s “Pācina” Rosso has long eschewed the Chianti Colli Senesi designation to which it would be entitled. 10 to 40-year-old vines are planted in the classic porous “tufo di Siena” limestone of the zone, amounting to a final blend of 95% Sangiovese with 5% Ciliegiolo & Canaiolo. Fermentations take place in large cement tanks with no interference, and the wine spends 3 years in a combination of large Slavonian casks, old 500-liter barrels, and cement, with no fining or filtering and a maximum of 20 mg/l of sulfur added. Dark, boisterous fruit combines seamlessly with a soaring acidity ever so slightly treble-boosted by immaculately tasteful volatility, and the tannins possess a scrumptious sizzle.

Formerly, the family’s small plantings of Ciliegiolo were blended into their flagship red wine; after all, the variety is notoriously difficult to ripen fully. However, given the dramatic warming of the climate in recent years, Giovanna and Stefano have begun producing a separate bottling of Ciliegiolo, showcasing its boisterous character in purezza. This wine macerated for three weeks—among their briefest macerations (Ciliegiolo possesses thick skins and a great deal of phenolic material)—and spent two years in a combination of concrete and steel before being bottled with no additions. Spice-drenched jet-black fruits are buoyed by tangy acidity and corseted by warm, fuzzy tannins, and the whole thing pulses with energy.