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Pier Luigi Tolaini, a native of Tuscany, immigrated to Canada in 1956. He planned to work for a few years, make some money, then go back home, buy a farm, marry his high school sweetheart and make some good wine... and not with his feet this time! It took Pier Luigi 45 years before he returned with a clear vision of the high quality wine he wanted to make: one of Italy's best, no less. In 1998 he returned to his native land and purchased some of the best land in the region of Chianti Classico in the noted commune of Castelnuovo Berardenga. He constructed, from the roots up, this state-of-the-art winery and brought together the best technology and winemakers to bring to light wines that would be a true expression of this significant region. Pier Luigi hired famed enologist Michel Rolland and Tuscan agronomist Andrea Paoletti, who put together a team that share Pierluigi's vision - to make the best wines possible with one vitally unique ingredient - the terroir of Chianti Classico's southern most commune: Castelnuovo Berardenga . A true marriage of tradition and modern technology. The belief in the "best fruit produces the best wine" is the fundamental principal of the Tolaini estate. High density planting per hectare and low yield per plant is a proven strategy worldwide in producing excellent quality fruit. With up to 8,300 plants per hectare in the less hilly vineyards, drip irrigation for each plant, and two green harvests to pre-select the healthiest and most promising bunches on the vine, the Tolaini property produces fruit of unsurpassable quality. This fruit is evident in every mouthful of the estate's five incredible red wines. Ruggero Mazzilli is Tolaini's consulting agronomist and is based in Gaiole in Chianti where he is the owner and founder of SPEVIS (The Experimental Station for Sustainable Viticulture). Under Ruggero's supervision Panzano in Chianti became the first Bio-Distretto (Organic District) in the world, immediately followed by San Gimignano and Gaiole in Chianti. SPEVIS works with the best scientific research institutes to find new solutions to practical vineyard issues by following the principles of organic agriculture and respectful environmental practices. With Ruggero as part of the team, Tolaini will continue to cultivate the maximum expression of Chianti Classico terroir while farming organically and sustainably. Like the vineyards surrounding it, the winery at Tolaini Estate is an expression of both old and new. An optical sorter guarantees that only the healthy whole grapes make it into the fermentation vats. The best grapes from each harvest are fermented in open-top fermenters made of French Allier oak (12 units of 4500 liter capacity), a time-proven touch that increases the complexity in the wines. The generous array of tank sizes allows for individual parcels of grapes to be fermented and stored separately. These batches are kept apart through subsequent barrel aging in new French oak before blending. Today Luca D'Attoma is the consulting oenologist and his hand is apparent starting with the 2015 vintage of Tolaini.
San Giovanni is the name of Tolaini's vineyard near the town of San Giovanni a Cerreto. In the church adjacent to the vineyard there is a painting by Rutilio Manetti depicting Saint John the Evangelist ("San Giovanni") offering to Mary a chalice with a serpent, the international symbol of Saint John and chosen for this label to honor this historic land that bears his name. Grapes are first selected during harvest in the vineyard and then by an optical sorter when they arrive at the winery; they are destemmed and the whole berries are immediately placed in French oak fermenters. Fermentation is temperature-controlled and the must is kept in contact with the wine for 25 days. The wine spends 16 months in French barriques, of which 6 months are spent resting on the fine lees. Maceration 25 days.