Two bottles of Sammarco; Wine Spectator (2007): 95/100
Six bottles of Vigna d’Alceo; Wine Spectator (2007): 98/100
Produced by Castello dei Rampolla
Toscana IGT, Tuscany/Italy
Original filling quantity: 0.75 l
Fill level: into neck

This lot comprises eight bottles of 1997 vintage wine from Castello dei Rampolla in Tuscany, two bottles of Sammarco and six bottles of Vigna d’Alceo.

Tuscan vines grow in the cultural landscape of central Italy, a region not only regarded as the birthplace of the Renaissance and with that European culture in general. It’s no wonder then that the agriculture of winegrowing here has produced genuine wine types and distinct styles. Tuscany is home to some fantastic wines. It is like a wild bull, tamed by the Etruscans many years ago. Its beauty has always attracted and fascinated foreigners. It is a landscape that can be as captivating as Mona Lisa’s smile. One cannot fathom it, melt into it and be thrown back out without understanding what once came to blossom here. However, fascination alone does not result in good winegrowing – it is the art of planting vines in the ground and producing exceptionally nuanced wines from their fruits. Tuscany can be divided into two main parts: the historical main area of Florence and Siena and, in its wilder south, the Maremma – historically a poor farming region that has experienced a winegrowing boom over the past two decades. The first wine dynasties of Italy, the Polizianos, Antinoris and Frescobaldis, came to the Maremma towards the end of the 1990s, when land in Chianti Classico became very expensive.

Toscana IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) bezeichnet eine Weinqualität in Verbindung mit seiner Herkunft. Nämlich Weine, deren Trauben in einem Weingebiet der Toskana gewachsen sind. Seit 2009 wird dies auch als IGP auf dem Etikett deklariert. Der Begriff wird in der Toscana, ähnlich wie Vini da Tavola, auch für hochkarätige und wertgeschätzte Weine verwendet, wenn ein Erzeuger die weingesetzlichen Richtlinien freier interpretieren will.

In 1997 the summer in Tuscany was extremely hot, the quality of the wines is rather inconsistent but some are quite extraordinary.

The 1997 vintage Sammarco was rated 95 points by James Suckling on Wine Spectator’s website in 2007. Suckling rated the 1997 vintage Vigna d’Alceo 98 points in the same year.

The fill levels are excellent (into neck). The labels and capsules are in perfect condition.