Querciabella Palafreno 2008 — Toscana IGT is a wine produced by Agricola Querciabella (founded in 1974), a pioneer in a cutting-edge approach to winemaking, creating pure expressions of balance and enduring finesse.
The estate, whose name means “beautiful oak” in Italian, has 74 hectares of vineyards in the communes of Greve, Panzano, Radda and Gaiole, within the Chianti Classico. The winery was founded by Italian industrialist Giuseppe Castiglioni in 1974 and was converted to organic farming by his son Sebastiano in 1988. Since 2000 it has worked biodynamically, and Querciabella is one of the largest owners of certified organic vineyards in the whole of Italy. No animal-derived products are used either in the vineyards or in the winery, making their wines suitable for vegans.
This wine, Palafreno 2008, is a monumental Merlot with an ethereal lightness of touch — the most sublime expression of Querciabella’s vineyards in Greve in Chianti.
It is a wine produced exclusively in years when the ripening conditions approach perfection. The Merlot grapes come from two vineyards situated at 350–400 metres above sea level, on loose and stony galestro soils with a south-southwest aspect. After hand harvesting and a double selection to ensure that only the finest berries reach the tanks, the wine matures for around 18 months in fine and extra-fine grain French oak barrels, with 30% new wood.
Tasting
In appearance, when poured into the glass it displays a compact and intense ruby red colour, with a luminous, bright and clean core, of fairly deep coverage.
On the nose it is complex, with an aromatic constellation of sweet dark berries, plums, earth, cigar smoke, Tuscan herbs, smoky wood and a spiced touch within an elegant framework of cedarwood oak.
On the palate it is pure, full-bodied and elegant in profile, with a fine core, remarkable balance and complexity, soft and discreet tannins, and a long, serene and highly refined finish. Impressively light for its stature, with great intensity of flavour and a refined complexity.
Sobrelías Redacción
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