Checking in on some old soldiers in Luigi Anania’s living room.
While Tuscany represents a formidable and growing part of the RWM portfolio, Neal’s longest-standing relationship in the region is with Luigi Anania and his La Torre estate. Originally from Calabria, Luigi’s family relocated to Tuscany in the early-1970s and set up shop in the commune of La Sesta—the highest-altitude and southernmost part of the Brunello di Montalcino zone. Luigi’s father planted vines, most of which are still healthy and productive today, and a nascent RWM began importing the family’s elegant and characterful wines in the mid-1980s.
A published author of pithy, introspective, Chekhov-esque short fiction, Luigi’s thoughtfulness extends to his vineyard and cellar work as well. He farms his five hectares of Sangiovese Grosso fully organically (certified as such for many years), and since the beginning, even throughout the modernization madness of the ’90s and early ’00s, La Torre has stayed the course of ultra-traditional Brunello: long, natural ferments in cement, followed by four years of aging in large Slavonian casks.
This unfussy methodology results in a wine of great purity, deeply marked by minerality and soil-derived elements, and devoid of oaky clunk. Brunello developed a reputation for richness and heft over the years, and while it is undoubtedly more substantial than its counterparts in Chianti and Montepulciano, traditional Brunello should still express the inherent freshness and lift of Sangiovese. Thankfully, Luigi’s does so with aplomb, its character given added finesse due to La Sesta’s poor soil and high altitude.
In addition to his singular Brunello, Luigi also produces a spectacular Rosso di Montalcino, built around the fruit from a particular south-facing parcel which yields a wine lower in tannins, and aged 18 months in large Slavonian casks. Of a piece with the estate’s Brunello in its emphasis on finesse and brightness, it is nonetheless a Rosso di Montalcino of impressive concentration, and we have enjoyed numerous long-aged examples of this wine over our years of partnership.
We are prepared to receive Luigi’s new releases this month: the 2019 Brunello di Montalcino, a sumptuous, concentrated wine with an impressive top-to-bottom spectrum of aromas, from wispy spice and floral tones to deep earth; and the 2022 Rosso di Montalcino, full of juicy cherries and damp soil, gently somber yet with admirable lift given the power of the vintage.
More on La Torre here.
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