2023 Tenuta di Carleone, Il Guercio, Toscana

Tenuta di Carleone’s Il Guercio is a technical study in Sangiovese, sourced from high-altitude vineyards near Lamole that reach 650 meters. Winemaker Sean O'Callaghan utilizes organic and biodynamic farming to manage these cool-climate sites, emphasizing site-specific tension over raw intensity. The vinification is deliberately reductive in its intervention: the wine undergoes extended maceration with a significant percentage of whole clusters in concrete tanks, followed by aging in the same vessels to prioritize textural integrity. The 2023 vintage, characterized by a complex growing season that required meticulous canopy management, provided the necessary acidity to underpin this wine’s structural profile, resulting in a Sangiovese defined by fine-grained tannins, bracing acidity, and a firm, mineral-driven architecture.