The Suolo ‘cru’ comes off one of the oldest estates in Montalcino. Originally the creation of Bordeaux-trained winemaker Hans Vinding-Diers, ‘Suolo’ translates as soil. Moving forward in 2014 and especially 2015, Suolo is to become the purest expression of Argiano’s soil under its new ‘less is more,’ consultant, Alberto Antonini. The 100 percent sangiovese grosso is a mix of fruit from the Vignoni vineyard (1966) the oldest vines at Argiano, and from Oliviera (1989), one of Argiano’s younger sites. The pair face south/southwest at 300 metres altitude, and are on a mix of clay, schist, calcareous and limestone soils. At veraison the yield is reduced to four to five bunches per plant. The grapes are hand harvested and a large proportion of whole berries forces a slow and gradual start to fermentation. Post ferment, Suolo is aged in 600 litre tonneaux for 16 months, followed by one year in the bottle before release. In 2013 the style is rich and powerful with smoky, plum and black cherry, vanilla, coffee aromas that open to floral, earthy, black cherry, peppery orange, licorice/coffee balsamic flavours. Napa goes to Italy. Certainly this needs time and will not be ready to drink before 2020. If you must, make sure meat is on the menu, or a well-aged hard cheese.
Anthony Gismondi, March 2017