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Viinin Kuvailu
The Story
L’Apparita was Tuscany’s first pure 100% Merlot wine made in Italy with its debut vintage of 1985.
Castello di Ama and L'Apparita made a breakthrough on 8 February when L’Apparita 1987 was awarded as the best Merlot wine in a blind tasting hosted by the Academie du Vin in Switzerland— with a jury led by no less than world-renowned wine consultant, Michel Rolland. It left behind 15 other Merlot wines including the legendary Pétrus and its 1988 vintage.
The small parcels that make up the 3.84 hectares of the L’Apparita vineyard are set atop the Vigneto Bellavista hill, at an altitude of 490 metres. In 1975 they were planted with Canaiolo and Malvasia Bianca, then grafted over with Merlot clone 342 between 1982 and 1985.
Blend: 100% Merlot (Clone 342)
First planted: 1982-1985
Viticulture: Open lyre training in 490 metres with 2,800 vines/acre in clay rich soil.
Average age of vines: 32 years
Soil: calcareous with clay
Vinification: Fermented with indigenous yeasts only
Ageing: aged in thin-grained French oak barriques 35% new, 65% once used for 18 months.
First vintage: 1985
Winemaker's Notes: Purple red color with violet nuances. Impenetrable. Aroma: red fruits, blackberry. Spices such as vanilla, black pepper in grains and juniper. The finish has a balsamic note. The taste is extremely elegant, smooth and enveloping, with a silky yet powerful tannin. Clearly fresh, very persistent, never ending.
Vuosikerta 1990
With the advent of the 1990s, Italian wine production finally entered the modern age. The pioneers of modern winemaking had succeeded in their efforts to show the world, not to mention politicians, the potential of Italian wine production. This was demonstrated in 1992 with the implementation of the new IGT classification, whose purpose was to lift the super wines out of the Vina da Tavola category from the disgraceful Italian quality classification system. Conversely, a number of producers gave up their DOC or DOCG classifications and marketed their wines as IGTs, such as Angelo Gaja’s Barbaresco and Barolo cru wines and Roberto Anselmi’s Soave wines.
1990 was the ideal kickoff for this stunning decade. A hot and dry summer with cool nights and light rain set the stage for a small, but exceptional crop, perhaps the finest seen since the 1940s. Piedmont brought in an excellent crop for the third year in a row. However, the rains were distributed considerably more evenly in 1990. Tuscany enjoyed similar weather conditions, and, as in Piedmont, the grapes ripened earlier than usual. Overall, 1990 produced very elegant, nuanced, ripe fruited and concentrated wines, which still have great maturation potential.