Category: Tuscany Wine

Italian wine selection

Fubbiano wines - Italian wine selection

Winemaking at Fubbiano
Fubbiano’s 20 hectares of vineyard produce around 100,00 bottles a year, making it one of the largest producers in the Lucchesia.
This will increase to probably around 150,000 bottles over the next few years as newly replanted vineyards begin to reach maturity.
The first wine was bottled at Fubbiano in 1968, the same year that the DOC Colline Lucchesi was introduced.

Labels have come and gone in the meantime, such as the Novello Fubbianello that is no longer produced, but the classics have been a constant since then.
The majority of the grapes produced at Fubbiano are red, divided among four different labels: the Fubbaino red DOC, the San Gennaro DOC reserve, the “Super Tuscan” I Pampini, and the newest label in the family, First Love.

Two white wines complete the family the Fubbiano Bianco DOC and a pure Vermentino as well as two dessert wines a Vin Santo and in 2010 for the first time an Aleatico, both produced in small quantities. An Aqua Vitae as also produced in minimal quanties, a fragrant pure grape spirit derive from the fermentation of grapes rather than grape skins or pomace as is the case with grappa.

Web site: www.fattoriadifubbiano.it

Montecarlo wine

Montecarlo Wine

Bacco is crowing the Montecarlo tourist season with a series of events from 28 August to 8 September, weekends 6 pm to midnight, weekdays 7.30 pm to midnight.
This year the  garden of the Instituto Pellegrini Carmignani in Via Roma, which recently underwent a conservative restoration, is the site of the “Salotto del Vino e del Verde” in collaboration with Moreno Vannucci International Association of Green Producers.
Tastings under the Stars wine with cheese and salumi, daily in Piazza Garibaldi, 8.00 pm to 11.30 pm.
Salotto del Vino e del Verde at the Istituto Pellegrini Carmignani, information and reservations 329.3703751
Essenza del Gusto, wine food encounters hosted by FISAR sommeliers. Information and bookings 348.7557216
Sept. 3-5 ex Chiesa della Misericordia, via Cerruglio, 9.30 pm.

Each evening in Piazza Carrara 9.30 pm:
3 Sept. duet by “Gli Opera”, songs from the 70’s to the present.
4 Sept. Gruppo Storico Montecarlese, parade with drummers and costumes throughout the Centro Storico.
5 Sept. Saltimbanchi, students from “I. Calvino” middle school, winners of the national Rassegna del teatro della Scuola.
7 Sept. Doowoop present songs from the 60’s to the present.
8 Sept. Candlelight procession to the Santuario della Madonna del Soccorso, with Montecarlo Philarmonic Band.

Tuscany itineraries

Tuscany wine

In vino veritas
Convinced that there is no more sane and simple way to live than the Montecarlo way, you may now be ready to join us on a country tour.
Landscapes that have not been overly re-modelled (sometimes ruined in the process) offer scope for the immagination, for self-expression and creativity. just look around and see what appeals to your taste: Montecarlo DOC reds or whites (especially Trebbiano, Malvasia, Sauvignon, Chardonnay, San Giovese, Canaiolo, Ciliegiolo, Merlot, Pinot, Cabernet, Sirah and Roussanne) and excellent golden olive oil (with an acidity level below 0.4% and an almondy after-taste), for example.

Many Montecarlo events are centered on wine. In mid-May Via Vinaria offers tastings of DOC and IGT wines with a Wine Bus for carefree visits to the Fattorie; Montecarlo in Festa honours the Madonna del Soccorso on 8 september but for 10 days glories in the grape, local gastronomy and cultural and musical entertainment; the Festival of New Wine and Oil takes place on the second wekend in November. Then of course there is the summer Jazz and Wine Festival.

With its surroundin vineyards and olive groves, Montecarlo has existed at least since 1000 AD. Its people moved from a nearby site called Vvinaia (property of the Duchi della Tuscia) after suffering a disastrous attack by the Florentines: soon thereafter in 1333 Carlo IV of boemia founded his “Montecarlo” by building the Fortress. Little has chenged, at least architecturally and agriculturally, since that time. Montecarlo wines were appreciated even in the 16th century, by Pope Paul Farnese III and Gregory XII and many others. In 1999 the wine route became “officially” identified; see www.stradadelvinoeoliolucca.it for more information and enjoy Montecarlo wines in Lucca at Enoteca Calasto (piazza S. Giovanni) and many other fine establishments.

Lucca wine

Lucca Wine

Lucca and its territory do not only have extra virgin olive oil, they also boast a very respected wine production, which is becoming ever more noteworthy.
The wines of the hills of Lucca and of Montecarlo possess a tradition which, based on precise historical documents, dates back to mediaeval and Roman times. It seems than even before the Romans, the hills of Lucca were cultiveted by the Etruscans and then the Ligurians who were well versed in the art of viticulture. These wines were well appreciated in the past by popes, in particular Gregory XII and Paolo II Farnese, who, respectively in the 15th and 16th centuries, made ample use of them. In the development of viticulture, one shiuld remeber the influence exercised by religious orders in wine making.

Among the wines of Lucca, those that stand out are those with the domination “Montecarlo“, which is reserved for wines coming from vineyards located in the municipalities of Montecarlo, Altopascio and also Capannori and Porcari. The Montecarlo white obtained its DOC denomination in 1969, the red in 1986. The DOC Montecarlo white is excellent as an aperitif and goes together very well with starters, soups and all types of fish dishes.
The Montecarlo red, which with two years of ageing is allowed to be called “reserve”, combines naturally with meat dishes, stews, pultry, mushrooms and roast white meats. The domination of Montecarlo also refers to types of vinsanto.

The secon denomination of origin of the province of Lucca is called ” Colline Lucchesi” (Hills of Lucca), and contrary to how it happened for Montecarlo, in this case it was the red wines which were first denominated DOC in 1968, while the white wines gained the same distinction in 1985.
The “Colline Lucchesi” and “Montecarlo” wines are among the main grape harvests of the selected wies, and their appreciation has recently been confirmed by numerous awards both in Italy and abroad.

Web-site: www.stradavinoeoliolucca.it

Tuscan wine tours

Montecarlo

Montecarlo  wines
One of the oldest wines in Tuscany comes from the Lucchesia: Montecarlo. Almost certainly wines were already being grown in this area in Etruscan and Roman times: according to the experts, the ancient name of Montecarlo, Vivinaja, comes from “via vinaria”, the road that joined the via Cassia to the via Romea and passed through the village.
Subsequently, a document of 846 talks about the income from perpetual leases in kind, which also included “pure wine, grapes pressed three times according to the rules, and then decanted. In the 14th and 15th centuries, Montecarlo wine was very well known throughout Tuscany, and the people who got  tipsy on it included the doge, Giovanni dell’Agnello, who governed Pisa and Lucca from 1364 to 1368.

The Prato merchant, Francesco Datini ( who invented the bill of exchange), wrote to his Lucchese correspondent: ” If you could have a perfect and good white wine {…} and you knew that Monte Chiaro is the one from Lucha, you would only want that”.
When Pope Gregory XII went to Montecarlo in 1408 he, too, was able to taste and enjoy the wine “of the land of the Cerrugli”; even those eternal rivals, the Lucchese noblemen, Paolo Guinigi and Pietro Cenami, were in perfect agreement about one thing at least Montecarlo wine.
Its consumption in the Florentine area grew when, in 1437, the domination of Florence began to spread to this land. In 1567 for example, the rural community offered “Trebbiano” to Duke Cosimo I of the Medici, and it was consumed also by his son, Francesco I.
In 1930 it was on the table of Umberto I of savoy in the Quirinale Palace.

In 1969, Montecarlo white obtained the official Denomination  “Origine Controllata” recognition, and in 1985 the red wine also awarded the D.O.C. recognition.
At the end of 19th century an enthusiastic Lucchese winemaker, Giulio Magnani, brought some wines from France to improve the Tuscan Trebbiano: these innovations led to a new Montecarlo made in “french style”; other producers followed hhis lead and also used this type of grape and method of making the wine. The area of production includes the municipality of Montecarlo and part of the municipalities of Porcari, Altopascio and Capannori.