The Tasting Panel magazine

September 2015

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september 2015  /  the tasting panel  /  1 1 1 including a tasting room and event space. "People come here to make wines that are fresh and fruity," Andrea says, "but we are already thinking about wines that will age. We trans- ferred the austerity of Chianti to the new place." But, Andrea says, they won't stray far from their roots. Sixty percent of the production is for export—low for an Italian wine brand, which illustrates the strength of the Cecchi name in Italy. And the brothers don't wish to abandon that heritage. "We always want to transmit that this is a company that makes wine. We love making wine and we don't want to stop doing our jobs," Andrea says. The winery is well invested in sustainability and environmental protection in all its estates. In Chianti, there is an invest- ment in clonal research: the Chianti Classico 2000 project. Conducted with the Consortium to Protect Chianti Classico Wine, the project's mission is to experiment with Sangiovese in dif- ferent soils and matrices to determine its optimal expression. Additionally, evoking the barrel-making history of Anita Cecchi, the winery has an ongoing program that experiments with different oak properties and fermentation. In Maremma, Cecchi's signature wines are Morellino di Scansano (made also as a riserva), made from Morellino, the local and ancient version of Sangiovese. To be called Morellino, it must have at least 85% of that grape; the other 15% may be other black- grape varieties. Under La Mora, its flagship label for Maremma, Cecchi also makes a DOC Vermentino blend. A recent project that melds both worlds is Coevo (Toscana IGT), launched in 2006 with a blend of grapes from the estates in Chianti Classico and Maremma. Meaning "contemporary" in Italian, Coevo is the Cecchi answer to Super Tuscans—substituting elegance for muscle, and evoking both the earthy texture of Chianti and the ripeness and long finish of wines from Maremma. Coevo is made only in the best years; the current vintage is 2010. The blend of Sangiovese, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot is, Andrea says, "the connection of roots with a vision of the future." Creating such a wine, he adds, was "the dream of my father." "Cesare and I are glad he had the vision," Andrea concludes, "I am not afraid of the investment we made because we have to grow. We are a simple people and we want to show what life is like here." A selection of Cecchi wines set up for a tasting for the author at the family's property in Maremma. PHOTO: LANA BORTOLOT Cecchi is imported by Terlato Wines. A Seleion of Wines from Cecchi Checci Chianti Classico Riserva di Famiglia captures the essence of Cecchi's original estate in the heart of Tuscany. ($40) La Mora is the flagship label from Cecchi's estate in the Tuscan Maremma. The Cecchi family is now the largest owner of cultivated vineyards within the Morellino di Scansano DOCG. ($17) The Cecchi Chianti Classico is the result of the Cecchi fam- ily's continuous research in the appreciation of Sangiovese originating from the best- exposed zones of the designa- tion. ($20) Coevo is a Toscana IGT wine that blends grapes from the Cecchi estates in Chianti Classico and Maremma. ($95) This crisp La Mora Vermentino complements the red wine offerings from Cecchi's Maremma property on the Tuscan coast. ($20)

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