Visit to La Massa

14 Sep 2018: With the scorching autumn sun beating on our backs, we weaved our way down a steep dusty downhill path to La Massa's winery from our friends' house in Panzano in Chianti. We had met the owner Giampaolo Motta at the white Burgundy tasting hosted by our friends the previous day (see earlier blog). He was probably taken by surprise that we had actually taken up on his offer for a visit when we eventually turned up at 11:30 am. The winery was very kind to fit us in when they already had a full morning of group visits arranged.

 

Giampaolo greeting us from his window

Completed in 2011, the renovation of the winery and cellars took 3 years. Every material and human activity flow had been considered in the design of the new winery to minimise energy consumption and to make optimum use of gravity-driven dynamics. The winery uses Ragazzini Rotho peristaltic pumps which ensure delicate pumping of wine during racking. Not only were mechanical concerns an important part of the design, according to Francesco Bufalini who joined as Director in 2015, the winery had been designed in black, red and silver to recall the colours of Ferrari, a brand much admired by Giampaolo.

Francesco Bufalini, the Director of La Massa in the middle

The Ferrari colours!

The winery had carried out extensive studies on individual parcels of soils and exposures. This resulted in the 2011 launch of a 100% Sangiovese from a one-hectare single parcel near the winery. The microclimate and schist-sand soils of this parcel have found to bestow elegance, aromatic intensity, pencil lead minerality, freshness and a linear structure qualities to Sangiovese, very much a feminine version of the Giorgio Primo. Thus named this cuvée Carla. Only 5,000 bottles each year, bottled in Burgundy bottles. Only punching down is used in the vinification, and the wine is aged one year in concrete, one year in 500-litre barrels and one year in bottle before release. We tried the 2015 Carla at the winery.


Giorgio Primo is the iconic wine of the estate. It used to be a Chianti Classico between 1992 and 2001. From 2002, it became an IGT Toscana, though still with the inclusion of Sangiovese. From 2007 onwards, the Sangiovese component was removed from this blend. The 2015 vintage was a blend of ​55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot. Vinified for 35 days. Aged 18 months in wood barrels, with 60% new barrels. We tried the 2015 vintage of this wine and it showed a firm structure, with juicy fruit and velvety tannins. A wine with a lot of potential but I probably preferred the 2015 Carla for the finesse.

The three wines we tasted: 2016 La Massa, 2015 Giorgio Primo and 2015 Carla

With a total of 160,000 bottle production, most of La Massa's wine is vinified and bottled as La Massa, the namesake wine. We tasted the 2016 version which was a blend of 65% Sangiovese, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Alicante/Merlot. Aged 14 months in wood, with 20% new oak. The wine already showed an ample mid palate, with mineral core beneath the aromatic fruit, balanced with freshness, and a long finish. It's a wine eager to please and perfect to be shown on the by-the-glass list.

At La Massa, they welcome cellar door sales but export sales are critical to the business. Almost 90% of the sales are to export markets, outside of Italy. You would often see the wines at selected top Michelin-starred restaurants around the world.