LA LECCIA

TOSCANA

La Leccia oak barrels in the cantina with family members Lorenzo and Leonardo.

Lorenzo in the cantina pulling wine to taste from an oak barrel.

Yes, finally with La Leccia we have our first foray into Chianti. This was a long time coming, clearly, but we feel like La Leccia represents a can’t miss project from an up and coming winemaking family.

Their story begins in the 70s when the Bagnoli brothers, Renzo, Sergio and Loriano, decided to buy this slice of paradise that was home to a beautiful villa on the property and some old vines and olive trees that needed tending to. They put in that work and for decades sold the grapes and olives the farm produced. In 2009 they rented the property out to another family that produced wine there. However in 2013 the direction of this estate changed.

Paola Bagnoli was out for a hike in the area one sunny day with friends. The trail they took led them through her family’s property. Her friend pointed out that they were indeed at La Leccia, but Paola didn’t even recognize it, which as you could imagine was extremely upsetting for her. Unfortunately, the family who was renting it out was not taking very good care of the property. After discussing with her family, Paola ripped up the contract they had with that family and decided that she would begin making wine and olive oil on her family estate. La Leccia was born that day and they began producing and bottling wines themselves just a few short years later.

As of 2019 the winery is practicing organic. Paola has also convinced a few of her cousins to join in on the project which was really fun to see. From the getco they have worked with my good friend Gabrielle Gadenz who has been their consulting enologist. Once this project got up and running it was he who clued me in on it!

The symbol of the winery is a holly oak tree. Two beautiful holly’s sit in front of the family villa on the property. In Italian holly oak is: il leccio, and it is masculine. However considering the winery was born with Paola they made it feminine: La Leccia.

Photo of Tuscan winery La Leccia's house that doubles as a cantina. Photo of Tuscan winery La Leccia's vineyard in spring.

Close up photo of Lorenzo Bagnoli in the vineyards at La Leccia, Tuscany, Italy.

Photo of La Leccia's beautiful, rustic modern tasting room at their house in Tuscany.

La Leccia is a stunning 20 hectare property. It is located in the hills of Montespertoli, an up and coming production zone within Chianti that was once dominated by a few very very large bottlers. Because of this it was always overlooked. Today La Leccia is leading the charge alongside a dozen or so compelling, small family projects to help change the tune around this specific production zone.

What is most important about Montespertoli is the soil, which is a quite poor, lean calcareous soils where vines certainly suffer. It’s also an area with ventilation. This wind and soil provide a true salty, fresh quality to the wines. This is something you can really feel when tasting through the lineup in its entirety.

La Leccia is truly a bastion for biodiversity and not only between olive groves and grapes. It’s something very apparent when looking out over the property. The road into the property divides the vineyards so they benefit from having both North and South facing. A few of their vineyards are surrounded by forests as well helping to really create a wild aesthetic where biodiversity can truly shine.

Photo of a La Leccia wineglass perched atop an oak barrel in their Tuscan cantina. Dark moody photograph of the aging barrels at La Leccia winery.

Hillside photograph of the rocky terroir in La Leccia's Tuscan vineyard.

La Leccia winery bottle photo of Cantagrillo a white wine with blue label

Cantagrillo

Trebbiano Toscano

Varietal : Trebbiano 100%

NOTES

La Leccia is committed to Trebbiano Toscano as a varietal and not in a blending sense but delivering on a memorable monovarietal expression. Their interpretation is one that yields wonderful structure and mouthfeel while the wine still hangs onto the character of the vineyard itself.

Given the mineral backbone and structure of this wine it is a very fun wine to pair. It’s a wine you could certainly eat with appetizers or pair with grilled chicken or swordfish. I also like pairing this with spicy food as well.

The grapes are ripened and some are allowed to partially dry in the vineyard, using traditional techniques such as ‘’cutting the canes’’ and ‘’pinching the stems’’. This helps to concentrate sugars. Manual harvesting takes place during the coolest hours of the morning, and so the grapes are crushed and destemmed and chilled immediately to 6°C using a heat exchanger. Some of them are then taken to a press, where they undergo cryomaceration for 24 hours prior to fermentation, while the rest are introduced into a temperature-controlled tank and subjected to a longer maceration, which lasts until the cap of skins rises (3-4 days depending on the time it takes the indigenous yeasts to develop). Subsequently, fermentation takes place at a controlled temperature of 15°C. Roughly half the production, on the other hand, carries out the second phase of the alcoholic fermentation – and all of its élevage – in barrels of different sizes (100 and 225 litres) and of various botanical origins (oak, acacia, sour cherry and mulberry), whilst the other half remains in stainless steel and completes its maturation on its fine lees for 6 months at a controlled temperature of no more than 15°C. In both cases, the wine is prevented from undergoing malolactic fermentation. Finally, the operations of blending, stabilisation and bottling take place, carried out roughly 10 months after the harvest.

La Leccia winery bottle photo of BOH a sparkling wine with bubbles all over the label

BOH

Spumante

Varietal : Sangiovese 100%

NOTES

This Charmat method Sangiovese is proof of the creativity of the Bagnoli family. They noticed that a lot of their south facing fruit was planted to clones of Sangiovese that are prone to water down. This is something typical in a lot of Montespertoli historically before this mini revolution of small growers began to take place. Instead of ripping these vines up however they felt that with proper vineyard management and an early harvest they could make a delicious charmat method wine. They figured why not, which is the idea behind the name BOH!!

This is a wine that you should bring to every party. Serve it with meats and cheeses or even grilled veggies and chicken.

The grapes are picked earlier than usual and in the coolest hours of the morning, in order to preserve their acidity. They are then crushed and destemmed and immediately chilled to a temperature of 6°C. They then undergo soft pressing, without any maceration. The must thus obtained is first subjected to static clarification at 4°C, then racked and the solid matter removed; lastly, the fermentation process is triggered off at a controlled temperature of 15°C. The wine is then kept on its fine lees for 3 months at 10°C, preventing the malolactic fermentation. This is followed by the creation of the cuvée, a slow prise de mousse in pressurized tanks (using the “Charmat lungo” method with prolonged maturation on the yeasts), stabilisation and bottling. This last operation is carried out roughly 6 months after the prise de mousse.

La Leccia winery bottle photo of Chianti Superiore. White label features their house and the beautiful Leccia tree in gold.

Chianti Superiore DOCG

Varietal : Sangiovese 100%

NOTES

This is easily one of the best price/quality Chianti’s out there. It also has a drinkability that so much of this category lacks which is proof of the potential in Montespertoli but also the potential for this up and coming winemaking family.

This is not your typical Chianti but I will still pair it will tomato based pasta and grilled meats.

The grapes are picked by hand during the coolest hours of the morning, crushed and destemmed, and then transferred into 30hl temperature-controlled stainless steel vats. Once fermentation has started, the temperature is gradually raised, up to a maximum of 28°C. Maceration is carried out with daily brief pumping over of the must and délestage for about 18 days. After devatting, the various parcels of wine undergo malolactic fermentation separately before being blended together and completing maturation in 7–8 months. This is followed by stabilisation and bottling, which is carried out during the summer. Lastly, the wine is bottle-aged for roughly 6 months.

La Leccia winery bottle photo of Chianti Superiore. The red label features their house and beautiful Leccia tree in gold.

Chianti Riserva DOCG

Varietals : Sangiovese 95%, Trebbiano Toscano 5%

NOTES

There’s a definitive difference between La Leccia’s Superiore and Riserva. Clearly you can feel the terroir in both but the Riserva is more typically dry and has a touch of chewyniss that I find typical in Chianti. For the money this is a tremendous value and it is a wine that promises to hold up well in your cellar.

This is a red meat wine or pair it with a sunday stew.

The Riserva is a wine I see evolving even in style over the coming years. You even have two wines in 2020 and 2021 that are quite unique from one another, for example. In both vintages half the wine is aged in 30 HL barrels of slovonian oak while the other half is aged in stainless steel.

From 2022 however at La Leccia they have begun using more concrete that has been present at the winery for years. I expect to see more aging in concrete compared to steel, which from what I tasted could have a tremendous impact on this wine.

La Leccia winery bottle photo of Chianti Superiore. The black label features a gold leccia tree and red writing.

Gòta Rossa

Varietal : Sangiovese 100%

NOTES

This is La Leccia’s attempt at a Super Tuscan. This fruit comes from the fruit where they make their Champagne method Sangiovese and thus has been given a chance to concentrate and hang on the vine a bit longer after an initial pass for the bubbles. This concentration is evident in the glass but I am most impressed by the balance of this wine, particularly at a young age. For those who want the power that some of these Tuscan gems can deliver look no further than here!

This is a red meat wine or pair it with a sunday stew.

After racking, the wine undergoes a malolactic fermentation in stainless steel before being transferred to mature partly in 30 hl Slavonian oak casks and partly in 500-litre barrels of top-quality French oak (tonneaux), where it remains for around 15 months. This is followed by blending, stabilisation and bottling: this last operation takes place in the summer of the second year after that of the harvest. Bottle-ageing prior to release onto the market lasts at least 12 months.

La Leccia winery bottle photo of Sua Santita, their Vin Santo wine in an elegant tall bottle and modern sun label.

Sua Santitá

Vin Santo

Varietal : Trebbiano Toscano 80%, Malvasia del Chianti 20%

NOTES

Producing a good Vin Santo is something you hear producers hesitate to claim. They let you make your own judgments on these wines. It’s such a hypercompetitive world that of Vin Santo I got the sense from Lorenzo that he wanted to just pour the wine and hear my opinion when we first tasted this wine together.

I would say what La Leccia produces is excellent and delivers on some pretty good bang for your buck too!

Aged cheeses and of course you can’t forget the classic pairing of vin santo and cantucci.

The grapes are very carefully selected and picked by hand when they are absolutely ripe, before being hung on the winery’s old ‘’appassitoi a fili’’ (drying wires). By using this method, the bunches do not come into contact with each other and the drying process can take place at just the right speed, so that the fruit remains perfectly intact and healthy. When they have lost sufficient moisture and their concentration of sugars and aromas have reached the desired levels (in mid-January), the bunches are removed from the wires, cleaned of any moulds that might have developed, and then destemmed and pressed in an ancient vertical press (‘’strettoio’’). This pressing lasts 2-3 days, or for as long as one can extract even a few drops of ‘’nectar’’. The must is then left to settle and clear at room temperature and subsequently transferred into wooden barrels (100-litre carati and barriques), where the product rests – without being topped up – for 15 years in the vinsantaia, a room subject to the natural oscillations of temperature and humidity. Lastly, the wine is removed from the wood and put provisionally in small stainless steel tanks to clear and be prepared for bottling, which always takes place without any filtration.

Visit La Leccia’s Website
(It’s in English!)

VISIT SITE