Ampeleia "Unlitro" Rosso IGT, Tuscany, Italy 2023

FROM BOWLER WINE:

THE WINE: This wine is a blend of varieties originating from the Mediterranean Basin— 50% Alicante Nero, 30% Sangiovese, 10% Carignano, 9% Mourvedre, 1% Alicante Bouschet—sourced from vineyards at 180-250 meters above sea level, the lower and more coastal-influenced vineyards of Ampeleia. The fruit was harvested from the 10th to the 25th of September at yields of 60hl/ha. The varieties were harvested and vinified separately. A small part of the harvest undergoes carbonic maceration (10%), the rest is either done whole berry or crushed. Macerations lasted 5-7 days. Aged 6 months in cement tanks. 165,000 1L bottles produced.

THE PRODUCER: Ampeleia was born in 2002 from the collaboration of Elisabetta Foradori and a two friends. They saw the huge potential of this particular area of the Maremma, the Colline Metallifere, mineral-rich hills that have been mined since Etruscan times. Not the coastal lowlands one usually associates with the Maremma, the Colline Metallifere are located more inland, at altitude. For example, Ampeleia's vineyards just outside the hamlet of Roccatederighi reach 600m. This part of the Maremma has never been home to intensive agriculture, and it has some of the lowest population density in all of Italy. In fact, the Colline Metallifere are a national park and also a UNESCO Global Geopark site.

Marco Tait has been at the helm of Ampeleia since the very beginning. He's originally from Trentino, where his father was the agronomist at Foradori. As a kid, he remembers doing after-school vineyard tasks and playing hide-and-seek in the cellar. After enology school and working for some larger, more conventional wine operations in the North, he came to Ampeleia, initially skeptical about the power of biodynamics. But Ampeleia is a special place, and its unspoiled nature and inherent biodiversity allowed biodynamics to take root much more quickly than in places that are more anthropized. All activities at Ampeleia had been converted to biodynamics as of the 2009 vintage.