Petrolo Galatrona 2018

Because all the love and respect we dedicate to farming our piece of land here in Petrolo is returned in the beauty of the wines that nature bestows on us.
Because with about 150.000 plants in production, in most part Sangiovese then Merlot and a little portion of Cabernet Sauvignon, we produce just over 90.000 bottles (Torrione 50.000, Galatrona 30.000, Bòggina 12.000). Because of the constant work in the vineyards, the meticulous care in the cellar together with extremely delicate and natural processing of the grapes, without the use of selected yeasts or enzymes, and because of the support given by extremely good weather and soil conditions, we are able to get very close to our “ideal” wine year after year, both with the Sangiovese and the Merlot - obviously with different results and different characteristics each vintage, depending on the changeable conditions. Besides the grape varieties it is made of, our wine has to talk of the piece of land it came from. It has to be a classic in its own small way, beyond being mainly good, it must hold the stories of the people who have made it, thought it and who have lived and worked for generations on that piece of land.
Because wine is a very long-term project, where results are often seen only after generations.
The wines produced at Petrolo have their roots in my grandfather’s period (in the 40’s/70’s) and my mother’s (80’s/90’s). But we can also refer to the modern age: in the “Tuscan agricultural Journal” (Giornale Agrario Toscano) Giorgio Perrin, Swiss agronomist of early ‘800, honorary member of the “Accademia dei Georgofili” of Florence and owner of Petrolo at the time, speaks of the quality of Sangiovese in Petrolo especially of the vineyard in “località Poggio Asciutto”, now Bòggina. Moreover he explains how at the time it was normal customs, in this part of Tuscany, the Chianti, to plant “uve franzose” (French grapes) to be added to Sangiovese because these grapes would not alter the quality of our wines as the character of the territory prevails over the different grape varietals. All this written on a text of 1837 that can still be read today.