At the end of the 1980s and the height of the 1990s, Tuscany was the Eldorado of Italian wine. Wineries owned by Florentine marquises and noble families accumulated awards and recognition abroad, crystallizing a model of reference, success and standardization for Tuscan (and not only) wine, the absolute box-office market champion.

A few kilometers from Massa Marittima, in the Upper Maremma, Tuscany, Fabrizio Niccolaini reclaimed the Querciola vineyard planted by his father in 1972, replanted the traditional vines and in 1985, with his wife Patrizia Bertolini (one of the first in Milan to offer organic and biodynamic products with the Il Girasole cooperative in the late 70s), created Massa Vecchia.

Trained as a mathematician and chemist, he abandoned the world of science to pursue a clear, contrarian vision of nature in which man, animals and plants are all in harmony with the cosmos, according to the model proposed by Steiner and Fukuoka. It takes up the traditional winemaking practices of the Maremma estates, with full-bodied macerated whites and reds vinified only in wood with a long passage on the skins, and reaffirms the identity of the autochthonous grape varieties (Aleatico, Alicante, Sangiovese, white and black Malvasia, Vermentino, Trebbiano) in total opposition to the trends of those years. It's a world panorama increasingly dominated by star winemakers, by hypertrophic and technological wines built to flatter the market. Fabrizio chooses to reduce his lifestyle to a more spiritual richness, taking what comes from the earth. He chooses to be its guardian and chooses to be a farmer.

He creates wines by following his instincts, far from imposing a style or a signature, he devotes himself totally to a primordial idea of the organic, so that nature can express itself to the full by revealing itself in his bottles. He eschews the laws of the market, the principles and timing of sales and promotion, distancing himself from an era of consumerism. Wine is food, not a commodity to be marketed.

In 2003, together with Angiolino Maule, Stanko Radikon and Paolo Bea, he founded Vini Veri, from which the whole natural wine movement has sprung. A clear-sighted and consistent man, for over 20 years he resisted the fashions and trends of the wine world, and in 2009 decided to leave the winery to a very young Francesca Sfrondini, his wife Patrizia's daughter, who had always followed him, learning his secrets. He retreated to 700 m above sea level, in the Metalliferous Hills, where he reclaimed a farmhouse (an ancient Tuscan farmhouse) that he called Aia Vecchia, surrounded by woods, pastures, vineyards and a vegetable garden, with the idea of re-proposing the model of circular agriculture, where cows, pigs, farmyard animals and rabbits feed on grass and seeds, producing meat

Selection

Ariento

Massa Vecchia's Ariento is an extraordinary orange wine, expressive and dynamic. Massa Vecchia, the jewel in the crown of Italian artisanal wine, is one of those names that leave no wine lover indifferent, thanks to bottles that, even uncorked years after the harvest, enthrall with their depth and richness of facet.

The white "Ariento" is produced from pure Vermentino grapes, from vines grown without chemical or synthetic substances. Harvesting is strictly by hand, with selective sorting. In the cellar, the same credo is followed, with alcoholic fermentation occurring spontaneously and maceration on the skins for around 2-3 weeks in chestnut truncated-cone vats. It matures for 18 months in oak barrels and at least six months in bottle.

Ariento fills the glass with its intense golden-yellow color. It's enchanting from the very first nose, with scents of peach, apricot, citrus peel, acacia honey and bucolic references, with notes of hay and wild herbs. The nose is so variegated that it's hard to tear yourself away from it, but tasting makes it clear that the liquid has other arrows in its quiver. A fleshy pulp, a fruit to be crunched, which unfolds in the mouth with all its moods and freshness. Then tannin punctuates the rhythm of the sip like a metronome. A great "white" to be drunk at the same temperature as a red so as not to lose any nuance of its immense complexity.

Vita

The Massa Vecchia winery's "Vita" is an intense, well-structured white wine macerated on skins, produced in Massa Marittima, in the province of Grosseto, Tuscany.

This label is made from pure Malvasia di Candia grapes, an aromatic white variety, from vineyards located on hills over 250 meters above sea level in the Upper Maremma region of Tuscany. The vines are cultivated using the espalier method, with spurred cordon pruning on soils rich in sand and clay.

Massa Vecchia's Vita has an intense orange-yellow color with red and copper nuances. The nose reveals intense aromas of candied and exotic fruits, including orange, citron, mandarin and mango, floral notes of dried rose and aromatic herbs, including thyme and mint, finishing on light spicy notes. On the palate, it's rich, juicy and complex, with freshness and lively tannins.

Vita is an exuberant and revealing expression of a little-known aromatic variety like Malvasia di Candia, handcrafted, sincere and frank, a must-try!

Rosato

Massa Vecchia's Rosato is the lucid expression of a pioneering project born in 1985 on the slopes of the Colline Metallifere, in the upper Tuscan Maremma, by Fabrizio Niccolaini, accompanied by his wife Patrizia Bertolini.

Massa Vecchia Rosato is a blend of a native grape variety, Malvasia Nera, which makes up the majority of the wine, and a small percentage of Merlot. The grapes come respectively from Vigna Beruzzo 2 and Vigna Massa Vecchia, both situated at around 200 m above sea level.

Rosato di Massa Vecchia is distinguished by its surprising aromatic complexity and thirst-quenching freshness. In the glass, the pink color is enriched by violet nuances. The olfactory notes are in the world of red fruits, from cherries to wild berries, and are accompanied by a pleasant spiciness of white pepper against a background of Mediterranean herbs.

On the palate, it's sweet with pleasant rustic and smokey notes that are well accompanied by a natural flavor.

Sangiovese

Massa Vecchia's Sangiovese is among the most wonderful and exciting interpretations of Sangiovese in the Maremma. A pure and rare concentrate of the Tuscan coast with all its Mediterranean, wild and marine contours; it can almost be defined as a "creature" for its spontaneous mood and the vitality that flows from the liquid.

Rustic and expressive, when it opens up, it reveals a disarming depth and a cyclone of nuances that take the mind back to the wild land of Maremma. This Sangiovese is one of the most resplendent jewels in the Massa Vecchia collection.

Sangiovese Massa Vecchia caresses the glass with its dense, impenetrable ruby-red mantle. Majestic and noble, it still shows its wild nature and reminds us it is a child of the earth.

A throbbing, layered nose with country notes, pastoral elements, hints of Mediterranean maquis, wild herbs, wild fruit, blackberries, sea breezes and forest roots. Sophistication and elegance gallop in the same direction at the reins of rustic freshness and tannin that punctuates the sip. Power, depth and class, a huge wine!