The Cigliano di Sopra farm, built in the fourteenth century in the Northern part of the Chianti Classico region, has been in the Fucile family for over 100 years but it is only in 2016 that Maddalena Fucile, fresh out of the enology school of Florence, decides to start producing wines harvesting the grapes from the 3 hectares of vines that were planted in 1972. Only 1,000 bottles were produced in the first vintage. Soon after, her friend from enology school, Matteo Vaccari, joins forces and 4 more hectares are planted on sandy, clay and limestone soil.
Their approach to winemaking is somewhat avant garde in the Chianti Classico DOCG: they harvest by hand only in the morning hours and vinify them with whole berries, 20% full cluster, in open vats. 20/25 days maceration time.
With this process the berries undergo a sort of spontaneous micro fermentation, which is different from what takes place with carbonic fermentation in that in this case the fermentation takes place with no temperature control and with contact with oxygen rather than in sealed vats.
The wine is then hand pressed with a wooden press and transferred in barriques, 20% new wood, where it matures for 18 months. Bottled with light filtration and minimal sulfites added.
Cigliano di Sopra is a certified organic farm and their entire production hovers around 25,000 bottles.