Salcheto

The Salcheto winery covers 21 hectares of hilly Tuscan land and it surrounds the Salcheto stream that runs through the heart of Tuscany’s Montepulciano town. The first estate in Italy to be fully self-sustainable, Salcheto reflects the epitome of environmental efficiency – and, unsurprisingly, its wines embody a similar ethos of innovation and natural process. Thirty years on from its founding, and almost twenty-five since its takeover by Michele Manelli in 1997, the Salcheto winery can today be considered an eco-pioneer in the wine world. Alongside its primary goal to create terroir-focused, Sangiovese-oriented wines focused on drinkability and aromatic clarity, Salcheto is absolutely committed to utilising a cellar that is considered an exemplary model of sustainable technological innovation, while incorporating the lightest and most ecological bottling solution and boxing on the market, all to keep their carbon footprint as low as possible.

Salcheto’s winery is dedicated to a clone of the Sangiovese grape that provides the soul of the renowned Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Prugnolo Gentile. Prugnolo Gentile offers a heightening of softer, plum-like flavours, in place of Sangiovese’s usual red and black cherry notes. It gives us, perhaps, a mid-point between a bold and robust Brunello and an elegant Chianti, with a complex offering of cedar, earth, tea, and balsamic alongside fresh fruit, a full body and a seductive richness. While Salcheto’s Vino Nobiles are made solely from this Sangiovese clone, the Salcheto Chianti Biskero comprises a blend of Prugnolo Gentile, Canaiolo and Mammolo to produce an easy-drinking, everyday wine. The Salcheto Salco (meaning willow tree) once again places its focus on the Sangiovese clone, utilising ever-so-slightly over-ripe grapes harvested from the most mature plots in the vineyard. It’s matured for two years in wood, before spending up to four years in the Salcheto cellar.

All of Salcheto’s wines are low sulphur or sulphite-free and fermented with indigenous yeasts, maintaining consistency in their approach to respecting and protecting the natural environment in which they work from vineyard to winery. However, recently they took this approach one step further, releasing a range of natural wines under the label ‘Obvius’ – Oro, Rosso, Bianco and Rosato – all of which provide fruit-forward experiences that keep you (and Salcheto’s winemakers) on your toes.