Chianti Classico's Bibbiano: The longest-standing monument to the Sangiogenius of Giulio Gambelli

Vigna del Capannino, the primary Cru vineyard of Chianti Classico’s Bibbiano estate, is planted to Montalcino-origin Sangiovese grosso vines acquired in the 1950s with the assistance of the Sangiovese master Giulio Gambelli. 

The Bibbiano property dates back to 1089 but grape growing only came to the fore with its acquisition by the Marzi brothers in 1865. The Gambelli-Marzi relationship began in 1942 while the former was employed at the Enopolio in Poggibonsi. Gambelli was invited to go hunting at the estate with then owner Pier Tommasi Marzi, beginning a relationship that would redound to the benefit of the estate for many a year thereafter. Nesto and di Savino stipulate that Gambelli considered the Marzi relationship as the most consequential of his career.

Bibbiano has had two significant transformations in the post-war period, the first significantly influenced by Gambelli, the second led by Stefano Porciani.

Post-WWII, Marzi and his son-in-law Alfred Merroccheri embarked on a project to rebuild the vineyards and winery. They joined the Consorzi in 1948 and, between 1950 and 1970:

• Constructued a large wine cellar
• Planted 20 ha of specialized vineyards
• Planted 10 ha of olive groves
• Totally modernized the equipment.

Gambelli provided assistance while still employed at the Enopolio and Bibbiano subsequently became his first client when he left to become a consultant. He contributed to Bibbiano in terms of decisions on new systems, aging methods, and wine style and bouquet (He was also been responsible for procuring the Sangiovese grosso cuttings from Sant'Angelo Scala in Montalcino for the 1950s planting of the Capannino vineyard.). Gambelli's wine style called for traditional Chianti Classicos fermented in glass-lined, non-temperature-controlled cement vats and aged in Slavonian botti.

By 1999 Bibbiano was being managed by Tommaso and Federico Marzi and the vineyards were, according to Nesto and di Savino (Chianti Classico):

• Old and in need of replanting
• Many of the vines had died
• Some were so old that their production was too low from an economic point of view
• Others had been poorly trained and were too old to withstand the stress of retraining
• The remaining vines were so weak that they needed to be green-harvested twice so that the fruit could mature

The brothers called on Stefano Porciani for assistance in revamping the estate. Stefano had been the Technical Director of the Chianti Classico Consorzio from 1992 to 2001 and had managed the operation of the Consorzio's Chianti Classico 2000 project. With his base of knowledge accumulated from that project, he began replanting vineyards, with the Bibbiano Capannino vineyard the first in line.

Capinnino was not dissimilar to many Montalcino vineyards in terms of temperature (14 - 15.3 ℃), average rainfall (60 - 70 cm), exposure (southerly), and soil (clay-dominant), so the previously planted Sangiovese grosso was a good fit for the replantation. In 2009 the vineyard was planted with "the organic genetic material that Gambelli had selected in Montalcino." The rootstocks utilized were the clay-philic 775 and 779 Paulsen. Vine density was updated to 5000 vines/ha, the rest of the estate replanted, and an underground drainage system installed to round out the vineyard modernization. The entire project was completed in 2012. The current-day estate is illustrated in the chart below.

I recently tasted the 2016 vintages of the estate’s Gran Selezione wines made with grapes sourced from its two cru vineyards: Vigne de Montornello and Vigna del Capannino. Both of these wines are fermented over 33  days in cement vats, with délestage, aged for 12 months in French oak barrels, 12 months in Slavonian oak barrels, and 6 months in bottle. These wines still adhere to the Gambelli principles except that the cement vats are now temperature controlled and French oak barrels precede Slavonian oak barrels in the aging schema.

I tasted the two wines with the Orlando BBF tasting group and then at home the following evening.

The 2016 Montornello Gran Selezione showed sweet plum, wax, and a clayey note on the nose. Sour cherry on the palate, along with a balsamic note. Saline with a metallic note. Aggressive tannins. Long, sour, chalky finish.

The 2016 Vigna del Capannino Gran Selezione was elegant on the nose with sweet fruit, prominent hymenaea courbaril, which faded into the background with residence, richness, and neutral shoe polish. A full, round mouthfeel. Balanced. Silkier tannins than encountered in the Montornello. Juicy. Blackpepper-driven finish.

The cuttings for the Capannino vineyards were secured from Sant'Angelo in Montalcino, the subzone which Kerin O'Keefe identifies as the hottest and driest of the Montalcino subzones. In their book Chianti Classico, Nesto and di Savino identifies the west and southwest portions of Chianti Classico as being the warmest in that region and the Bibbiano location in Castellina places it squarely into warmer territory. These wines were good but did not exhibit head-turning complexity.

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