🍷 Balifico 2017

Balifico 2017 is a red Toscana IGT wine from the 2017 harvest by Castello di Volpaia of Radda in Chianti.

According to the house, the grapes were hand-picked on 29 September; the grape varieties are Sangiovese (65 %) and Cabernet Sauvignon (35 %); the wine was aged for 18 months in new French oak barriques from the Allier forest; the alcohol is 14 %; the total acidity is 5.4 g/l; residual sugar is 1.1 g/l.

Castello di Volpaia is a family wine estate in the fortified village of Volpaia near Radda in Chianti, first mentioned in 1172; about 45 ha of organic vineyards above 400 m, mainly for Chianti Classico.

Toscana (or Toscano) is a protected geographical indication (IGT; in EU terms a PGI) covering the whole administrative territory of the Tuscany region: the provinces of Arezzo, Florence, Grosseto, Livorno, Lucca, Massa-Carrara, Pisa, Pistoia, Prato and Siena. It covers red (including novello and abboccato), rosé, white, frizzante, passito (dried-grape) and late-harvest wines, with or without a grape variety on the label. The list of allowed varieties is very long, from Sangiovese, Canaiolo Nero, Colorino and Trebbiano Toscano to Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Syrah. According to the description of the link with the area, Tuscany lies between sea and mountains with hills inland, vines have been grown here since the Etruscans, and Tuscan wine is marked by highly varied blends of native and imported varieties.

Under the IGT Toscana rules, red wine has a total alcoholic strength of at least 11 % and at least 20 g/l of sugar-free extract; the yield for red and rosé wines is limited to 16,000 kg of grapes and 128 hl of wine per hectare. The rules also allow the traditional «governo all’uso toscano»: right after racking, the red wine is refermented with about 5 % of slightly dried, crushed grapes, which eases the malolactic fermentation and natural stabilisation. Under EU law at least 85 % of the grapes for a PGI wine must come from the named area, whereas a PDO wine must come entirely from it. The designation is a rule of origin and production, not a verdict on taste.

Under EU rules, a wine label must show the designation of origin, the actual alcoholic strength, allergens such as sulphites, and the name of the bottler. A harvest year on the label means the wine is made from grapes of that year.

Why it matters to you. The name on the label tells you where the grapes come from and under which rules the wine was made; in Tuscany the blend and the harvest dates change every year, so different years of the same wine are different wines. The WHO reminds: there is no safe level of alcohol. The year on the label is the harvest year.