Carmignano is probably the least known of the great, traditional Tuscan appellations. Its territory was originally delineated in 1716 by the Grand Duke Cosimo III de Medici. The Carmignano DOCG zone still occupies that same territory, about 16 kilometers northwest of Florence, and some of its wine-making estates – notably Capezzana – originated as Medici villas. In the case of Capezzana, now the property of the Contini Buonacossi family, the present villa was originally a Medici hunting lodge. This was and is a small zone: All of Carmignano contains just 110 hectares of vineyards. There are some individual Bordeaux estates that are larger than that.
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Capezzana unquestionably leads the Carmignano pack in terms of quality and fidelity to tradition, though the local winemaking tradition may strike many wine fanciers as amazingly modern. In the course of the 18th century, it became customary in the Carmignano zone to blend Cabernet sauvignon into the base Sangiovese, a practice that sharply distinguished the zone’s wines from the Chianti-style wines of the rest of Tuscany. History buffs will remember that a Medici – Caterina – had become Queen of France (she is popularly supposed to have taught the French how to cook peas and eat with forks), so the introduction of French varieties into Medici properties was certainly no accident.
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However the French grapes got there, Carmignano was producing SuperTuscans about 200 years before they became fashionable, and the zone continued doing so, virtually unnoticed by Tuscans and foreign consumers alike, all through the SuperTuscan fad. That was a real shame, because all those Chianti-zone winemakers who destroyed vintage after vintage of good Sangiovese by clumsily dosing it with Cabernet could have learned how to handle Cabernet well by simply consulting the producers of Carmignano, who had so many years of experience with it. I love Sangiovese, and it hurt me deeply to see so much of it transformed into tannic monsters and rendered undrinkable for so many years. The irony of there being a close-to-home example of how to do it right seems even now not to have dawned on many Tuscan producers.
Present DOCG regulations for Carmignano mandate minimally 50% Sangiovese to be blended with maximally 10-20% Cabernet sauvignon or Cabernet franc, maximally 20% Canaiolo nero, maximally 5% Mammolo and Colorino, and maximally 10% Trebbiano and Malvasia. Another irony: One of the most pioneering appellations in Tuscany also contains one of the region’s most traditional blends – Sangiovese, plus the indigenous varieties Canaiolo, Mammolo, Colorino, and even some white grapes, just as in the old, old Chianti formula, all joining hands with Cabernet sauvignon and/or Cabernet franc.
I love the idea, and I love its results. At its best – and it is often at its best from Capezzana – that blend makes a wine savory and harmonious, companionable with all sorts of meals, enjoyable young 
and still capable of great and graceful aging. I recently opened a bottle of Villa Capezzana 2000. I didn’t decant it, though I should have – not because it needed aeration but because of the heavy sediment it threw. When I pulled the cork, a great rush of plum and blackberry greeted me and persisted all through the meal. On the palate, the wine was rich with ripe fruit – black fruits – and soft, elegant tannins, with an almost endless finish. A lovely wine, especially in what was a hot vintage, in many parts of Tuscany yielding unbalanced wines tasting of over-ripe fruit. They do things right at Capezzana.
Tom's Wine Line 