Spicy aromas of black fruit and touches of chocolate dominate the nose and palate. The wine is full-bodied, with supple tannins.

The soils that produce the fruit for Oreno are a blend of clay, sand and the stony galestro limestone that is special to Tuscany. Clusters are reduced to one or two per stalk in May to assure maximum quality when they are hand harvested in autumn. In the winery, grapes are hand sorted and destemmed. Fermentation occurs in a combination of temperature-controlled and lined, open-top tanks, followed by malolactic fermentation. Oreno is aged in French Allier barriques and in bottle before release.

Wine maker notes

A green harvest in May reduces clusters to one or two per stock. At harvest the clusters are handpicked, sorted, destemmed, and the skins broken rather than crushed. Fermentation with selected yeasts takes place in a combination of temperature controlled stainless steel and lined open-top fermentors. A maceration period of 25 days including fermentation, with gentle manual punching down of the cap, is followed by natural malolactic fermentation in tank. The wine is placed in new, 225-liter Allier oak barriques for a period of twelve to eighteen months. A first blending of lots takes place when the wine is placed in barrique; a second at the first racking. The finished wine is bottled without filtration and rests one year prior to release.

Technical notes

GRAPE VARIETIES: 50% Sangiovese 25% Cabernet Sauvignon 25% Merlot ALCOHOL CONTENT: 13.5% YIELD: 45 - 50 hl/ha (202 - 225 cases/acre) TOTAL ACIDITY: 5.2 grams/liter pH: 3.6

Food pairing

A delicious companion to full-flavored meats, game and roasts.

Producer

Tenuta Sette Ponti lies on historic land in the heart of the Chianti zone at the end of the Via del Monte, known locally as the Via dei Sette Ponti, in a beautiful hidden valley. Named for the seven medieval bridges crossing the Arno River on the road from Arezzo to Florence—one of which, the Ponte Buriano, is perceptible in the right far background of Leonardo DaVinci’s Mona Lisa—the estate has a storied history. But it has been the dedication and savvy of luxury goods entrepreneur Antonio Moretti that has transformed the 750-acre estate into a multifaceted farm property that is today one of Tuscany’s most innovative, quality-driven producers of world-class Super Tuscans. Tenuta Sette Ponti’s first release was the 1998 vintage Crognolo, named after a wild bush, Cornus, which grows on the estate. The estate’s second release, Oreno, is named after a small river running through the estate.