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Corzano e Paterno

No Classico, No Cry: Great-Value Organic Chianti (2022)
Corzano e Paterno

It’s always fun visiting the cultivated crew at Corzano e Paterno. After working and studying abroad with David Croix in Burgundy and Mac Forbes in the Yarra, Alijosha Goldschmidt’s son William has joined the estate. The younger, curly-locked Goldschmidt is well-travelled and, like his father, he is sharp as a tack. Along with his day job at Corzano, William has established an exciting label called Clivo Altura, exploring the Classico high-country around Vagliagli at 550 metres. Like many of his generation, he is consumed with perfume and elegance and has strong convictions on achieving it in the winery—using more whole bunches and lighter extractions—and, of course, through the kind of haute-couture viticulture emanating from France.

 

Not that William will have it all his way. Alijosha’s artistic cousin, Arianna Gelpke, has been Corzano’s winemaker since 2018 and has strong beliefs of her own. Arianna has only enhanced the purity and unadorned earth-to-glass character of the estate’s Chianti through her classically minded and graceful large-cask winemaking. Tasting with Ariana and William in Tuscany last month, you could sense the friendly competition in ideas and philosophies that will serve Corzano well in the future, even if the place will always be much stronger than the winemaker. 

 

As we tasted the 2022 wines from bottle, Alijosha had a few choice words for a vintage that was as warm and dry as any he can remember. Not that Corzano’s delightful wines from this vintage bear any of the vigneron’s psychological battle scars—they are further proof that beautiful, balanced wine can still be produced despite the speed of climate change. “Some nice rains at the end of August really revived the vineyards,” says the agronomist, whose 2022 wines surprisingly carry higher acidity and lower pHs than either 2020 or 2021; a freshness that dovetails wonderfully with the year’s juicy fruit and supple tannins. 

 

 “Our vines are strong, and they continue to surprise us,” says Arianna, whose hand-tended organic vineyards are populated by a judicious selection of mass-selection cuttings and high-quality clonal material. “Respectful farming has never been more critical than it is today.” To round out the anecdote at the start of the offer, there is no difference between the terroirs of the hills on either side of the Pesa Valley. You’ve got precisely the same altitude and the same rocky, pebble-rich alberese soils. That one side of the river can label its wines with a premium DOCG is simply a quirk of bureaucracy: the boundary had to end somewhere. As the Italians like to say, tutto è bene quel che finisce bene. All’s well that ends well.

The Wines

Corzano e Paterno Chianti Terre di Corzano 2022

Corzano e Paterno Chianti Terre di Corzano 2022

Organic. The estate’s core wine is the Chianti Terre di Corzano, which translates as ‘soils of Corzano’. It’s a blend of 90% Sangiovese co-fermented with 10% Canaiolo, all hand-harvested from Corzano’s rocky, south-facing slopes. The soils here are what the Italians call alberese—compact clay/limestone littered with pebbles—which tends to yield particularly aromatic reds. 

Incorporating 15% bunches, the wine fermented naturally and matured in a combination of 25- and 40-hectolitre botti, a traditional maturation that has become rare in today’s barrique-obsessed Tuscany. Arianna Gelpke enjoys the softening impact of large-format wood on Sangiovese tannins, and we can only agree. 

Once again, Corzano’s transparent style, emphasising purity of fruit, is in full flight. It’s bursting with the essence of hillside Sangiovese, with layers of mulberry, black cherry and strawberry pip woven together by succulent acidity and ripe, supple tannins. These bring vibrancy and texture, building to a juicy finish. The Canaiolo adds a dab of sweet spice and anise to Sangiovese’s palette of cherry, blue fruits and grilled-herb complexity. A fantastic drink, even better when served alongside smoky red meats, roast pork or deep-flavoured lasagne. No Classico, no cry.

Corzano e Paterno Chianti Terre di Corzano 2022
Corzano e Paterno Toscana Rosso Il Corzanello 2022

Corzano e Paterno Toscana Rosso Il Corzanello 2022

Organic. This is Corzano’s delicious, easy-drinking entry-level red—an IGT Toscana Rosso bringing together Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon with a dollop of Merlot. Named after the medieval fortified farmhouse on Corzano’s property, fruit for this wine chiefly grows on the estate’s cooler sites, and the winemaking is tuned towards preserving the wine’s vibrant aromas and bright-fruited charm. Accordingly, the grapes are given a pre-fermentation cold soak for a week or so before the wine begins fermenting naturally in stainless steel. “We are not looking for lots of structure,” says winemaker Arianna Gelpke. So, the juices are separated from their skins after only a few days to continue their fermentation in stainless-steel vats. 

This is Tuscan value at its finest: a supple and bright wine for the table and good cheer. It’s all sweet-fruited raspberry and black cherry backed by anise and blue flowers bound by chalky Tuscan tannins and freshening acidity. Ready for drinking now, this lip-smacking rosso is the kind of wine where one bottle is rarely enough. Try it with anything from barbequed chicken or silky ragù to woodfired pizza—a wine for all occasions.

Corzano e Paterno Toscana Rosso Il Corzanello 2022

“The estate is technically outside of Chianti Classico, but by a mere few hundred yards. The wines of Aljoscha Goldschmidt, however, are easily the equal of those of many a famous name inside the zone.” Stephan Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar

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