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BRANCAIA ESTATE BOOK

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BRANCAIA ESTATE BOOK

BRANCAIA Brancaia is spread across three estates in Tuscany; two are located in Chianti Classico (in the subzones of Castellina and Radda) and another is located in the Maremma, along the Tuscan coast. Brancaia’s flagship wine - Il Blu - is a blend of fruit from the two Chianti estates, while their opulent Ilatraia bottling comes from Brancaia’s vineyards in the Maremma. The winery was founded in 1981 in Castellina in Chianti by Swiss expats Bruno and Brigitte Widmer. They passed the winery on to their daughter, Barbara Widmer, who has also been the winemaker since 1998. Barbara has brought the estate consistent acclaim through powerful blends and principled winemaking.

REGION

Tuscany

FOUNDED

1981, in Castellina in Chianti

PROPRIETOR

Barbara Widmer

WINEMAKER

Barbara Widmer

VINEYARDS

Castellina 15 ha Radda 12.5 ha Maremma 40 ha

ENVIRONMENTAL

Certified Organic in the EU

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IMPORTED PORTFOLIO We import four wines from Brancaia; three distinct IGT wines that highlight Brancaia’s varying estate holdings and a Chianti Classico Riserva blended from high elevation parcels in Radda and Castellina.

REDS

Toscana IGT ‘Il Blu’ Toscana IGT ‘Ilatraia’ Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Toscana IGT ‘Tre’

Highlighted in the following pages is a selection of the estate’s top expressions. If you’re interested in exploring more of the portfolio, please use any of the QR codes to be guided to our website where you’ll find downloadable tech sheets, images, scores, and more.

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Opposite: Brancaia’s vineyards in Maremma 4

BRANCAIA ESTATE BOOK

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BRANCAIA ESTATE BOOK

IL BLU Il Blu was first made in 1988 from Brancaia’s vineyards in Chianti Classico, a blend of Sangiovese and Merlot made in the Super Tuscan style. At the time this was still a novel idea in Chianti; in fact, it was the first such blend in the region to rely heavily on Merlot. The wine is a blend of vineyards in Radda and Castellina, with Merlot coming exclusively from Galestro soils, 450m above sea level in Radda. Originally, the wine was Sangiovese-based, but over the years the percentage of Merlot in the blend has increased to as much as 80% as winemaker Barbara Widmer finds increasing depth and elegance in her thirty-plus-year-old vines. Il Blu is at once modern in its breadth and fine-grained tannins, but it maintains the structural edges and tension of the classical wines of Chianti.

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GRAPES

Merlot, Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon

VINEYARDS

Radda hillside; Galestro (Radda) & loamy clay (Castellina); 270-450m asl; Spurred cordon

FERMENTATION

Spontaneous in stainless steel

AGEING

18 months in new & used barriques; 3 months in concrete after assemblage; 12 months in bottle

FINISHING

Filtered & Unfined

PRODUCTION

~35,000 bottles

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ILATRAIA Ilatraia is Brancaia’s top wine from their estate in Maremma, along the sun-soaked Tuscan coast. It is the estate’s most plush and dark-fruited wine, a blend of Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc. These three grapes are able to ripen in the hot Maremma without the aid of irrigation, which is crucial for winemaker Barbara Widmer as she seeks to express the character of the estate. Brancaia purchased their 40ha in Maremma in 1998, the same year Barbara Widmer arrived to take on her family’s business, and the same year Brancaia finally finished completion of their cellar in Radda, allowing the winery to make wine independently for the first time. 2002 marked the first vintage of Ilatraia, which shares the name with a hill on the property (likely once covered in ilatro trees).

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GRAPES

Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc

VINEYARDS

Maremma; Sand & loam; 80-180m asl; Spurred cordon

FERMENTATION

Spontaneous in stainless steel

AGEING

18 months in new & used barriques

FINISHING

Filtered & Unfined

PRODUCTION

~40,000 bottles

BRANCAIA ESTATE BOOK

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BRANCAIA ESTATE BOOK

RETURNING TO HER ROOTS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 30 YEARS, BRANCAIA’S IL BLU CHANGED ITS LABEL, AND ONLY FOR THE 2018 VINTAGE. IT’S A COMMEMORATION OF AN ANNIVERSARY FOR THE WINE, BUT ALSO THE WINEMAKER. 2018 marked Barbara Widmer’s 20th vintage as the co-owner and winemaker of Brancaia, taking over operations from her parents in 1998 after staging at Domaine des Balisiers, Switzerland’s largest biodynamic winery. It was there that she developed a deep conviction for winegrowing in concert with nature.

she and her team installed a solar water heating system. In 2012, they moved entirely to spontaneous fermentations, and in 2013 Brancaia installed a graywater recycling system. 2014 found the winery officially monitoring their carbon footprint through a third-party (Brancaia continues to be carbon negative). They banned pesticides and herbicides in 2015 and their conversion to full organic viticulture started in earnest in 2016, with official recognition from the EU in 2019.

To Barbara, wine quality is always the top priority. But, she’s quick to point out that this is not mutually exclusive from principled vineyard management; on the contrary, they are directly connected.

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If you have tasted Brancaia’s wines, perhaps this all seems counterintuitive; it’s not uncommon now for some to associate environmentally responsible winemaking with the rustic, nervy, cidery wines that

In 1996, while Barbara Widmer was still in school, she instituted cover crop practices at Brancaia (in fact, she wrote her university thesis on the topic). In 2000,

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“...ONE OF THE MOST IMPRESSIVE TRACK RECORDS OF A MODERN TUSCAN BLEND THAT I CAN THINK OF.” Monica Larner, Wine Advocate, September 2019

have become synonymous with “natural winemaking.” But, what Barbara makes is different; concentrated, polished, ageworthy, and yet, it still benefits from the energy that comes from a more natural approach. This lift, this tension, is the key to Brancaia’s wines, the difference that inspires writers like Monica Larner to proclaim that IL BLU “has one of the most impressive track records of a modern Tuscan blend that I can think of.” *** Barbara sees organic viticulture as a moral imperative, but this is as much in service of better wines as a better planet. And it’s not just an improvement in grape quality; she believes that the fruit is more “authentic,” more of their place, and more connected to the land. In that way - and somewhat paradoxically - they have become more of an extension of the winemaker, too.

Opposite: Brancaia’s vineyards in Radda 12

BRANCAIA ESTATE BOOK

Brancaia estate and winery in Maremma

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