For centuries, the village of Ruffoli has been considered one of Tuscany’s greatest Sangiovese terroirs. Its west-facing slope of prized galestro marl, located between the iconic Chianti Classico towns of Greve and Panzano, provides ideal conditions for Tuscany’s flagship variety.

In fact, the soil and exposure is so perfectly suited for Sangiovese that a now-rare ancient clone, of great complexity, elegance and structure, has developed there over time: Sangiovese di Lamole. So when Vittorio Fiore, one of the architects of the Tuscan wine renaissance of the 1980s, searched for an exceptional Sangiovese site for his own estate he found it in Ruffoli.

Fiore certainly knew a great vineyard when he saw it. As Nicolas Belfrage describes in The Finest Wines of Tuscany, Fiore’s Poggio Scalette estate is “smack in the middle of the historic Chianti zone at between 350-500m above sea level, with perfect exposure, the kind of mean rocky soil that gives the best wine; and a quality of light of which Leonardo would, and probably did, approve.”

Best of all were the vineyards: ancient Sangiovese di Lamole vines planted just after World War I. If anywhere in Tuscany could produce a great wine, this was it.

Now with vines averaging over 80 years, Il Carbonaione is more complex than ever. Layered, concentrated and structured, it is one of the great wines of Tuscany and also one of its most amazing values.