Italian Merlots: Querciabella's Palafreno (Chianti Classico, Tuscany)

My continuing exploration of the world of Italian Merlot has yielded yet another Chianti-Classico-based mono-varietal in the case of Palafreno, a wine produced by Querciabella from grapes grown in the commune of Greve (Other identified members of the Chianti Classico Merlot class are San Guisto a Rentenanna's La Ricolma and Castello di Ama's L'Apparita, both from the commune of Gaiole.). This post summarizes the available information on this, the newest member of our Italian Merlot gallery.

Palafreno is produced by Querciabella, an estate founded in 1974 and which currently owns 74 ha (183 acres) of vineyards in Chianti Classico (Greve, Panzano, Raddo, and Gaiole in Chianti) and 32 ha (79 acres) in Maremma (Albarese in the province of Grossetto). The estate has farmed its vineyards organically since 1988 and biodynamically since 2000. The full range of its wines are presented in the table below.

                                      Full Range of Querciabella Wines

Tuscan Sub-Region	Label	Initial Year	Appellation	Variet(y)ies	Production (btls)
Chianti Classico	Batàr	1988	Toscana IGT	Pinot Blanco (50%) Chardonnay (50%)	15,000
	Camartina	1981	do.	Sangiovese (30%) Cabernet Sauvignon (70%)	15,000
	Querciabella	1974	Chianti Classico DOCG	Sangiovese (95%) Cabernet Sauvignon (5%)	100,000
	Palafreno	2000	Toscana IGT	Merlot	3000
Maremma	Mongrana	2005	do.	Sangiovese (50%) Merlot (25%) Cabernet Sauvignon (25%)	130,000
	Turpeno	2007	do.	Cabernet Sauvignon (N/A) Syrah (N/A) Merlot (N/A)	20,000

Palafreno, the estate's Merlot offering, is a mono-varietal which was first produced in 2000. Grapes for the wine are sourced from the estate's Cipresso and Marrone vineyards (less than 1 ha in total according to a Twitter conversation with the estate) in Ruffoli (Greve in Chianti) which are sited at 350 m altitude on loose, schistous, skeletal soils with southwest exposures.

The winemaking process utilized in the production of Palafreno is illustrated in the figure below.

Palfreno is only produced in favorable vintages and, as such, the label was not produced in 2002, 2003, 2005, and 2009. Production in 2010 was below normal levels due to "voracious bears and deer" (Twitter conversation with the estate). The wine, which has been described by Nicholas Belfrage MW as "... deep yet silky, fruit-driven yet with the perfect touch of toasty oak, enhancing rather than overwhelming ...," has received much critical acclaim including the coveted Gambero Rossi Tre Bicchieri (2004 for the 2000 vintage) and scores of 95 (2007 vintage), 92 (2008 vintage), and 94 (2010 vintage) from Antonio Galloni.

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