Description
Candialle Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2016
Candialle is a farm with a history going back to Roman times. Like many Tuscan poderi, it supplied bigger estates with various agricultural products. In 1999, the wife and husband (German/Finnish) team of Josephin and Jarkko Peränen purchased the land and began lovingly restoring it to the splendor it had once known. 2002 was their first wine release.
Located in Panzano in Chianti, just 20 km from Florence in the Conca d’Oro in the heart of the Chianti Classico zone, Candialle has 12.2 hectares under vine, 9 of which are planted to Sangiovese. Panzano and the surrounding Conca d’Oro are well-known for a high percentage of galestro, a friable clay marl-like soil high in limestone; there is also some pietraforte (hard sandstone) and alberese (hard chalk). The zone is 300+ meters above sea level and sees large diurnal shifts. It is one of Sangiovese’s true natural habitats. The Peränens have a large variety of clonal and massale selections of Sangiovese in their vineyards, including their prized T19 and even a Candialle selection grafted from ancient vines that had been trained up tress (viti maritate or testucchio). The vineyards are trained in either doppio cordone speronato or alberello at high densities ranging from 7,600-10,000 plants per hectare. The percentage of alberello (bush vines) is quite high; Candialle is one of only a handful of estates working extensively with this training method, which was once standard in Chianti Classico.
All vineyard work is 100% organic. Increasingly, Jarkko and Josephin have come to look at their farming as regenerative. Their preference is for native/spontaneous plants rather than cover crops. If they pass with a tractor at all, it is with specialized, lightweight equipment which does not disturb the subsoil. Composting of vine cuttings is done on the property, using manure from their own cows.
The wines are elegant, pure, and fresh, but show great depth and concentration, true to their location. In the cellar, grapes are destemmed and then gravity-fed through the roof. Fermentations occur between stainless steel and concrete, much of which is unlined. Macerations are often on the lengthy side, 30+ days, gently extracting the best the skins have to offer. Aging vessels are many: stainless steel, concrete, Burgundy barrels of 350L and 600L. There are also Clayver, 250L ceramic orbs, made in Liguria, which are fired at twice the temperature of terracotta and only only 1/10th the oxgyen exchange of a wood barrel. There is often long bottle aging before release; at the time of this writing in October 2021, the release of the flagship Chianti Classico Candialle is still 2013.
Josephin and Jarkko have been quietly and successfully doing things their way. Candialle is certainly one of the more overachieving wineries in our portfolio.
