This wine's natural beauty is in its spirit; it is a wine about a family, land, and the circle of life.  When he created “Dino”, Giovanni Manetti did not only create a new wine for Fontondi, he made a tribute.  Named in honour of his father, who passed away in early 2000, it links the winery back to its roots, where it all began.

Dino Manetti purchased the estate of Fontodi in Panzano in Chianti in 1968, and ever since, the family has been driven to produce wine of extremely high quality and purity.  But little known to many, the family has its roots in the production of terracotta tiles.  Roots that today extend to 8 generations. 

By making wine in “orci”, as these types of amphoras are called in Tuscany, Giovanni wanted to link the wine back to the family's heritage.  But this was not enough.  He needed to make wine using orci produced by the family company Manetti Gusmano & Figli, which still produces tiles and terracotta items today.  The key to this project was to produce them totally by the hands of an artisan and according to ancient and traditional terracotta production methods of Tuscany.  And more than that, the clay used to make the orci needed to come from the land of Fontodi, where his vines grow to make the wine, thus completing the full circle.  From the vine, the grapes return to the soil…

The wine is made with 100% Sangiovese and remains 12 months in the orci with the skins.  No sulfite added, no oak, no other production techniques.  The orci are left to rest in the cellar at a natural ambient temperature of 14C and 80% humidity, perfect conditions for a prolonged evolution.  

We tasted 2013 directly from one of the orci.  Amazing.  Fresh and pure as a whistle.  Beautiful aromas of cherries, spices, and plums.  A touch of herbs. New on the palate with a friendly, firm, velvety tannin.  A lovely wine.  More masculine than feminine yet elegant, self-confident, & worldly.

The striking thing for me was how fresh the wine was.  I often think “amphora” wines will show strong oxidation characteristics with nutty, leathery, and dried tobacco leaves notes.  Perhaps I can not get out of my mind some of these orange wines that claim high and loud that they are made in amphora.  Here, the wine was unlike anything I expected.   Giovanni told me that clay is an excellent vessel for making wine.  Its micro-oxygenation is lower than that of a barrel, the clay itself is an anti-oxidant, and as the wine spends so long on the skin, the tannins protect the wine fully, and so does the co2 that remains in the wine as it is trapped in the skins.  The top part of the orci was covered with beeswax giving it extra protection again oxidation and providing the orci with an extra layer of antioxidant properties.  But this wax is odourless and tasteless and does not seep into the wine.

A beautiful project, the authentic work of artisans…