Bolgheri, 08:27 A.M.
First produced in 1989, this incredible wine is the symbol of the winery, and it truly epitomizes Bolgheri. At first, the wine was a classic Bordeaux blend but became a Cabernet Franc monovarietal in 2001; since then, it has been a huge success. The name “paleo” refers to a wild herb found on the Tuscan coast, and it symbolizes a strong local identity and the will to reach all goals.
Harvest 2012 has certainly been, for Le Macchiole, one of the longest in the past few years (no less than 43 days!), due to the special and favorable weather conditions that gave grapes time to reach the optimum sugar and phenolic ripening level. In early summertime, the year did not look so promising; warm temperatures and lack of rainfall made us fear the worst. That is why all vineyard work was aimed at protecting the vine’s vegetative cycle by working the soil’s surface layer and carefully lightening the foliage (by removing the secondary shoots, not by topping the plants) to allow the vines to deal with the summer’s heatwave. This proved to be a successful move: by the middle of the summer season, when the weather changed by bringing breezy winds and rainfall, the vegetative cycle recovered its strength and achieved excellent grape ripeness. Grape yield was below average for the early varieties, but the year’s weather conditions allowed us to work at a less feverish pace and perform a more careful selection of the grapes and winemaking process and a more cautious choice of vinification strategies. ->
Denomination: Toscana IGT
First Vintage: 1989
Grape varieties: Cabernet Franc 100%
Vineyards: Puntone 1994, Casa Nuova 1998, Vignone 1999
Training System: double cordon spur and single guyot
Yield: 800 gr per plant
Harvest period: 2nd and 3rd week of September
Winemaking: fermentation and maceration for 25 days in concrete tanks
Aging: 18 months, 75% in new oak barriques and 25% in 2nd-use barriques
Bottling: August 26, 2014
