The summer of 2022 kicked off with my eldest daughter heading off to Italy with her pal to ‘Speak Teens’, a summer adventure camp for Italian kids to go and with the help of people like Beth, learn how to speak english. What an experience for the two of them, traveling to Bologna themselves and spending 10 days in the beautiful hills of Emiglia-Romagna.
Everything was going great until a tearful phone call from Beth. She had contracted Covid and was sent into isolation. She still had five days before due to return home so it was action stations in the Lockett house and before I knew it I was on my way to Bologna and less than 24 hours after the call I arrived and busted her out. What was initially a total disaster turned into a truly memorable four days in the Tuscan hills just west of Florence. The highlight of the trip was a day in Chianti Classico and a visit to one of my favourite producers in the world. I’ve been selling Fontodi Chianti Classico for years and years and it’s one of the most beguiling, compelling and sensational wines that I’ve ever known and suddenly I find myself driving the short distance to Greve in Chianti and to the home of the legendary Fontodi. We met the owner, the great Giovanni Manetti and then off we went for a full tour of the winery. The end of our time at Fontodi involved a full tasting of the range and not just for myself but also for Beth and her pal. Seeing them wince when tasting some of these iconic wines still makes me laugh and none more iconic than Flaccianello, their flagship wine from two tiny plots on the opposite side of the hill to the winery (see pic)
Flaccianello may be Fontodis flagship and most sought after wines but it’s their Chianti Classico which is truly where their heart belongs and remains one of my all time favourite wines Fontodi is a certified organic estate. The type of agriculture practised is inspired by the principles of respect of nature and sustainability. Respecting the environment means wines that are better, purer, and a truer expression of the grape and the territory. The wine is deep ruby coloured with inviting aromas of Morello cherry, wild strawberry redcurrant, and violets mingling together with leather, pine and sweet spices. This wine has great depth of flavour, juicy fruit, silky and smooth texture and supple tannins. What an incredible experience for not just me but the two teenagers who without realising it, had just experienced and sampled something truly extraordinary. Off we went with a complimentary bottle of the 2019 Chianti Classico back to our hilltop retreat and an evening reflecting on one of the great days of my life.
