Scipio 2016
IGT Toscana rosso, Sette Cieli, 750 ml
| Grape variety: | Cabernet Franc |
| Producer: | Sette Cieli |
| Origin: | Italy / Toscana |
Description
The bouquet is flowery with hints of spices. It shows complex aromas of wild berries, black currents and Mediterranean spices. The mouth is full bodied and fleshy, with a nice integrated acidity providing it with the right structure.
A product of the Marc Almert Selection
With the Marc Almert Selection, the ASI Best Sommelier of the World 2019, presents you a personally compiled selection of wines that inspire and touch him.
Marc Almert about the Scipio
As a sommelier, you get the chance to sample lots of wines. Not all of which taste good. Cabernet Franc is a good example of a grape variety whose wines have, on balance, more often than not failed to convince me. But I'm always happy to give it another chance and am all the happier when a wine completely entrances me, as this monovarietal Cabernet Franc has managed to do. In this red wine from the Bolgheri region, the Ratti family has created a very classy, concentrated Cabernet of impressive length and with multiple layers. Seductively ripe red fruit, black olives, violets, white pepper and tannin which is silky smooth on the palate, rounded oaky notes and a brilliant finish. Give it a little air in the decanter and it will add oenophilic class to any table. And, by the way: the Tenuta Sette Cieli only produces this wine in the best vintages, and even then they only make 4,000 bottles...
Attributes
| Origin: | Italy / Toscana |
| Grape variety: | Cabernet Franc |
| Label: | Vegan |
| Ripening potential: | 3 to 8 years |
| Serving temperature: | 16 to 18 °C |
| Food pairing suggestion: | Meat salad, Spiced grillades, Rabbit ragout with olives, Bistecca fiorentina, T-Bone steak, Risotto with ceps |
| Vinification: | long must fermentation, Punching down |
| Harvest: | hand-picking, strict selection |
| Maturation: | in partly new and used barriques/ Pièces, some months bottle storage before sale |
| Bottling: | filtration |
| Maturation duration: | 36 months |
| Volume: | 14.5 % |
| Note: | Contains sulphites |
Sette Cieli
It isn’t easy to ascend to seventh heaven. And indeed, the road to the wine estate Sette Cieli is fraught with some difficulties. You might need to take a few detours (seventh heaven isn’t on Google Maps’ radar), but the Ratti family’s wine paradise is more than worth the effort.
As is so often the case in the world of wine, this winery was created as the realisation of a dream. Erika Ratti made her dream a reality by planting the first vines in 2001 high above the Bolgheri plain, the birthplace of the world-famous Bolgheri wines. The magnificent view from up there extends from Monteverdi Marittimo, surrounded by dense forests, over the plain to the Tyrrhenian Sea shimmering on the horizon – a wonderful place!
Cabernet Franc
Forefather of the Bordeaux varieties
The Cabernet Franc is one of the oldest varieties of Bordelais and a parent of three other red grapes in the Bordeaux assortment: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Carmenère. It is distinguished by its complex, flavourful bouquet of raspberry, graphite, violet, liquorice and white pepper. In addition, it presents round, crisp tannins which turn out less strongly than those of Cabernet Sauvignon. While the Cabernet Franc always appears as part of a blend in Bordeaux, it is pressed alone on the Loire. The most renowned appellations are Chinon and Bourgueil. Incidentally, the Cabernet originates not in Bordeaux but in the Spanish Basque Country. Cabernet owes its name to the Latin “carbon”, meaning black.
Italy
Italy – Where wine is a way of life
The Italian wine regions are extremely diverse, and this is made clear in their wines. Established varieties such as Merlot, Syrah, and Sauvignon can be found on just 15 percent of the total vine growing area. The remaining 85 percent is reserved for autochthonous, indigenous varieties. More than 2,000 different grape varieties are grown under diverse conditions and pressed with various techniques into wines that reach the top tier of the international wine market.
