Tuscany may be best known for its red wines, as super Tuscans, Brunello di Montalcino, and Chianti have dominated headlines for years, but there’s a secret stash of pinot grigio from the region that’s beginning to turn heads.
A great example of pinot grigio from Tuscany is the Castello Banfi San Angelo Pinot Grigio Toscana IGT 2019. It is sourced straight from the Castello’s vineyards in Montalcino, an area best known for its famed Sangiovese. The grapes are carefully selected during harvest and fermented in stainless-steel tanks. Bottled a few months after the harvest to retain the utmost freshness, it is an ideal summer wine meant to be sipped on your patio and paired with a range of seafood or grilled vegetables.
The Castello Banfi San Angelo Pinot Grigio Toscana IGT 2019 boasts lush tropical fruit notes and a textured body. While Veneto may be the region best known for pinot grigio, this Tuscan offering shows off the flavors the wine can offer when grown further southwest.
Situated on over 7,100 acres in Montalcino, Tuscany, Castello Banfi is an agricultural vineyard estate composed of a constellation of single vineyards with 29 unique soil types, over 100 microclimates. A 12th century castle, Poggio alle Mura, is the crown jewel of the property. As the first producer to publish clonal research on Sangiovese, Banfi’s extensive work in optimal clonal selection as well as their patented hybrid steel and wood fermenters has led to consistently outstanding Brunello. As conscientious stewards of one of Europe’s largest contiguous estates, the property is only 1/3 planted to vine allowing for orchards, olive groves and lush forest to thrive.
If you’re more interested in trying out one of the winery’s famed red wines. The 2016 Banfi Poggio alle Mura Brunello di Montalcino DOCG ($99.99) offers notes of plum, cherries, blackberry jam, and raspberries, with just a hint of oak. The 2015 Castello Banfi Poggio alle Mura Riserva Brunello di Montalcino ($149.99), meanwhile, is rich and ample with notes of prune jam, coffee, cocoa, and a hint of balsamic, and shows the true depth of Brunello di Montalcino.
For more information, head over to Banfi’s official website.
