Teruzzi Rondolino Vernaccia di San Gimignan 2004
Winemaker Notes
In 1974, Enrico Teruzzi , an engineer by profession and a vintner by calling, founded the winery that bears his name, with the assistance of his wife Carmen Puthod, in the shadows of San Gimignano’s characteristic towers surrounded by the captivating beauty of the Tuscan hills. In 2016, the estate and winery were purchased by Vittorio Moretti and family with the aim to, “invest in what the land has to offer, to root the future in it.” Today, with 60 hectares of Vernaccia vines, the estate boasts the most extensive vineyards of this renowned variety.
One of the most iconic Italian regions for wine, scenery and history, Tuscany is the world’s most important outpost for the Sangiovese grape. Tuscan wine ranges in style from fruity and simple to complex and age-worthy, Sangiovese makes up a significant percentage of plantings here, with the white Trebbiano Toscano coming in second.
Within Tuscany, many esteemed wines have their own respective sub-zones, including Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. The climate is Mediterranean and the topography consists mostly of picturesque rolling hills, scattered with vineyards.
Sangiovese at its simplest produces straightforward pizza-friendly Tuscan wines with bright and juicy red fruit, but at its best it shows remarkable complexity and ageability. Top-quality Sangiovese-based wines can be expressive of a range of characteristics such as sour cherry, balsamic, dried herbs, leather, fresh earth, dried flowers, anise and tobacco. Brunello, an exceptionally bold Tuscan wine, expresses well the particularities of vintage variations and is thus popular among collectors. Chianti is associated with tangy and food-friendly dry wines at various price points. A more recent phenomenon as of the 1970s is the “Super Tuscan”—a red wine made from international grape varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Syrah, with or without Sangiovese. These are common in Tuscany’s coastal regions like Bolgheri, Val di Cornia, Carmignano and the island of Elba.
Vernaccia's intricate history is rooted in San Gimignano. The idyllic countryside upon which this vine grows was actually named Italy’s first DOC in 1966. Somm Secret—The 13th century marks its first written record and the grape was celebrated widely in literature, namely poems by Dante and Franseco Redi.