2022 Rosso di Montalcino Bonsai

It's impossible to wrap your head around the Podere le Ripi 2022 Bonsai. The word "extreme" comes to mind, and I don't mean it to describe the wine itself, more the methods use to make it. Plant density in the Bonsai vineyard is a whopping 62,500 vines per hectare (if you just did a double take, so did I: 7,000 vines per hectare is already considered dense). That tightness in spacing of course brings on more challenges in terms of humidity and mildew, especially in soggy vintages like 2023 and 2024. Winemaker and vineyard manager Sebastian Nasello puts straw mulch between the plants to keep humidity and weeds at bay. Fermentation involves 100% whole-cluster Sangiovese and lasts six days. It ages in tonneaux for 15 months and is then put into bottle. Sebastiano Nasello tells me about the challenges of a hot vintage like 2022, especially when pH is high, sulfur is low and microbiological problems or Brett can occur. "There is no precedent for this type of winemaking with Sangiovese," he says. However, he also maintains that this type of winemaking acts to counter the high vineyard density by creating a brighter and more lifted wine with a medium-plus mouthfeel. "We want to go in the opposite direction in terms of concentration and alcohol," he says. The wine offers big primary fruit intensity with maraschino cherry, grenadine and crème de cassis. This is a fun experimental wine to taste, but it bears reminding that the main focus of this estate is Brunello di Montalcino.