Ciliegiolo has spent most of its life as a junior partner to Sangiovese. Antonio Camillo set out to prove it could stand alone, and in the hills of the southern Tuscan Maremma he has made it his life's work.
Backstory
Camillo does not come from a winemaking family. He spent more than 25 years working at established Maremma estates before striking out on his own in 2006, beginning with two hectares of 40-year-old vines. The project has since grown to around 17 hectares and roughly 95,000 bottles a year, and in 2015 he moved into a modern winery.
The Region
The Maremma is the wild, coastal southwest corner of Tuscany, warmer and less manicured than the famous hills to the north. It is the home of Morellino di Scansano, the local Sangiovese, and increasingly a refuge for native grapes overlooked elsewhere. Camillo works near Capalbio in this landscape, championing Ciliegiolo, a grape whose name comes from ciliegia, the Italian for cherry.
Vineyards & Farming
Old vines are central to the project. Many parcels are 40 to 60 years old, some held on long-term rental agreements that let him farm sites he does not own outright. Camillo farms with minimal intervention, limiting mechanical work and green pruning and treating only with copper and sulfur, the traditional natural tools.
Winemaking
The cellar is built around concrete. Camillo matures almost everything in cement vats, which he believes let the flavour of the grape come through unaltered and allow the wine to breathe, with large wooden botti used for longer aging. He avoids stainless steel for this reason.
The Wines
The lineup runs to about seven wines, led by Ciliegiolo and the single-vineyard Vallerana Alta, a 100 percent Ciliegiolo from 60-year-old vines aged in botti. The Morellino di Scansano is 100 percent Sangiovese, well above the appellation's minimum, and rests about four months in cement. Alongside them sit a Vermentino, the Procanico white and the easygoing Tutti i Giorni rosso and bianco, the wines, as the name suggests, for every day.
