Why it matters
The producer
The village of Panzano sits in the northern arc of Chianti Classico, and to its south the land curves into an amphitheatre of calcareous clay-schist slopes called the Conca d'Oro, the golden shell. Fontodi occupies the heart of it. Giovanni Manetti joined the estate in 1979. Fontodi farms 90 hectares planted 90 percent to Sangiovese under organic and biodynamic certification, and makes wines that range from village Chianti Classico to single-vineyard Gran Selezione and a standalone 100% Sangiovese called Flaccianello della Pieve.
The Manetti family came to wine from terracotta. Dino Manetti, whose family manufactures clay tiles and pots, bought Fontodi in 1968 and restored what had been a crumbling farmhouse and neglected vineyard into a serious estate. His son Giovanni arrived in 1979. In 1981 Giovanni created Flaccianello della Pieve to show what Sangiovese could do outside the Chianti Classico blend rules, and the wine became one of the formative examples of what Tuscany could produce from that grape alone.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
The Conca d'Oro sits south of Panzano, enclosed on three sides by slopes that trap warmth and direct sunlight onto the vines from morning through afternoon. The bowl's altitude, combined with the marked difference between day and night-time temperatures, preserves acidity and aromatic complexity in the grapes even as they ripen fully. This diurnal swing is one reason Sangiovese grown here can carry both concentration and a firm, high-toned acidity that keeps the wines from feeling heavy.
Fontodi's vineyards lie within Chianti Classico, the appellation that runs between Florence and Siena and requires a minimum Sangiovese content in its blended wines. Flaccianello della Pieve, being 100% Sangiovese and vinified outside the Chianti Classico rules, carries the broader Colli della Toscana Centrale designation instead.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Fontodi farms 90 hectares of vineyard, with 90 percent planted to Sangiovese. All grapes are estate-grown and hand-picked. The estate is certified organic and works biodynamic principles in the vineyard, which deepens root development in the calcareous clay-schist soils and reduces reliance on external inputs.
Cellar work varies by wine. Vigna del Sorbo, the single-vineyard Gran Selezione from vines planted in 1963, ferments in stainless steel and then ages in barrel for the first year and in larger casks with a 20 percent new French oak component in the second. Terrazze San Leolino comes from the terraced vineyard at 450 to 500 metres and follows its own ageing regime suited to the site.
Wines to know
The range in view
Fontodi's range works outward from the Conca d'Oro. The Chianti Classico sits at the base: a Sangiovese-led wine with the fruit, acidity and tannic grip of the appellation, made to drink over a range of years and representing the estate's broadest expression of its terroir.
Above that sit two single-vineyard Gran Selezione bottlings. Vigna del Sorbo draws on vines planted in 1963, with mid-palate density that reflects both the vine age and the French oak ageing. Terrazze San Leolino comes from the high terraced vineyard on albarese and schist, with an elevation and soil profile producing a lifted, mineral quality alongside firm tannin.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with Flaccianello della Pieve rather than the Chianti Classico. The Chianti Classico is the broader wine and shows the appellation; Flaccianello is where Fontodi's argument about Sangiovese is made without dilution or blending requirements. The label carries the Colli della Toscana Centrale designation because 100% Sangiovese sat outside the Chianti Classico rules when Giovanni Manetti first made it in 1981. That label decision is still the clearest signal of what Fontodi is trying to do. In the glass, the oak aging over several years integrates into the fruit rather than sitting on top of it, and the wine's acidity holds the palate long after the fruit has faded.