Giulio Gambelli and Tuscan Sangiovese: The view from Chianti Classico

I have long been beguiled by the life and work of Giulio Gambelli, the noted Sangiovese expert, but have only been able to capture snippets through writings on the websites of the wineries with which he was associated and an abbreviated treatment by Kerin O’Keefe in her Brunello di Montalcino. 

I have now been able to add to that meager knowledge base with information provided in a more robust treatment of Gambelli’s life and work in Nesto and di Savino’s Chianti Classico. Bill Nesto actually met and tasted with Gambelli in the 1990s and wrote an article about him back in 1999. The information on Gambelli provided in this post is drawn largely from the Nesto and di Savino characterization of this Tuscan treasure.

Nesto first met Gambelli in the Lilliano cellar in the fall of 1994. His nickname was Bicchierino, a name that he secretly detested. According to Nesto and di Savino, Bicchierino — little glass — had become associated with the family 150 years prior as a result of  his great-grandfather selling wine in little glasses in a family-owned Trattoria. The name was passed on to Gambelli by his great-grandfather.

Giulio was born in 1925 in Poggibonsi (Siena) where his family owned a tobacco and small-goods store. At 14 years of age, he signed on as a cellar worker at the Poggibonsi facility of the Enopolio of the Siena and Grosetto farm consortium. At that time, and during the subsequent war period, the Enopolio was one of the largest vinification and wine-storage facilities in Italy and its wines were considered the best in Chianti. Giulio’s initial work was confined to “menial jobs” and tasting the wines as they were moved from barrel to barrel.

On the left, a youthful Giulio (source: Screen grab
from i-wine review YouTube video); on the right, a 
more mature Giulio (source: igrandvini.it)

Tancredi Biondi Santi (Yes, that Tancredi Biondi Santi) served two stints as the Enopolio's Consulting Oenologist while Giulio was employed therein. The figure below shows the heft that Tancredi Biondi Santi brought to the Enopolio and what training with him meant for Giulio.

Not only did he learn about Sangiovese from a noteworthy oenologist, he also developed relationships with producers who would become consulting clients during his stint at the Enopolio and after he left in 1965 to go help with the family store. Giulio had become friendly with a number of producers and gave them free consulting advice as a favor. Giulio sold the store in 1972 and turned to freelance consulting to wineries on a full-time basis.

 

At this time Chianto Classico was "shifting from a pale, light, slightly fizzy wine in a fiasco to a more structured wine in a bottle." With the Biondi Santi training, Gambelli knew how to make such a wine and assisted a number of producers who were beginning to bottle their own wines. During the 1970s and 80s he developed as many as 80 clients and worked out of three offices in the Poggibonsi area. A partial list of his clients is provided in Table 1 below.

Table 1. Partial list of Gambelli clients (Source: Nesto and di Savino; author)

Clients from Enopolio Stint	Later Additions	Other Important Chianti Classico Clients	Late-Career Additions	Selected Montalcino Clients	Consorzio Clients
Brandini Marcolini (Rencine)	Lilliano	Ormanni	Rignana	Soldera (Case Basse)	Chianti Classico
Marzi (Bibbiano)	Pagliarese	Rodano	Porta di Vertine	Poggio di Sotto	Brunello di Montalcino
Gaggelli (Santedame)	San Felice	Straccali		Il Colle	San Gimignano
Lucherini (Villarosa)	Cacchiano	Lo Spugnaccio		Cerbaiona
	Fonterutoli	Villa a Sesta
	Manetti (Monvertine)	Colle ai Lecci

Giulio never had a payment structure and never billed a single client for work done. Nesto and di Savino point out that a number of his clients angsted as to how/how much/ when to pay him and his wife was always imploring him to seek payment for his services. 

Giulio would generally begin work in Montalcino, with each visit lasting approximately 30 minutes. After completing his rounds in Montalcino, he would drop in -- unannounced -- on his clients in Chianti Classico.

The below chart illustrates Gambelli's philosophy and techniques for producing high-quality Sangiovese wines. 

As shown, he was partial to oxygen contact during all phases of the production process. As Nesto and di Savino note, "these techniques ... can produce greater amounts of volatile acidity" but this did not much bother him as the resulting volatile smell, in his estimation, "was accompanied by a more supple taste and increased roundness." Fully developed, healthy skins and clean conditions, coupled with a vigorous and long maceration in air, produced the kind of structured wine that he appreciated. And that structure would allow the wine to age even in reduced-acidity conditions.

Giuliano Gambelli passed away on January 3, 2012, at the age of 86.

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