Sesti Toscana Rossato 2023

Here is a rare rosé from the land of great reds, from Sangiovese planted within the eminent Brunello di Montalcino appellation. As sublime as their Brunello is, the Sestis’ craving for a wine to be drunk cool during the warm months led them to create this rosato. It’s gentle and mouth-filling, perked up by a touch of salinity that recalls the oceanic vineyard soils -- quite a sophisticated rosé that is nonetheless carefree.

Rarer yet, it is fermented with natural yeasts and completes its malolactic fermentation—that means no inoculation, low sulfur, and no sterile filtration. The result: a refreshing, mouth-filling rosato better suited to fine dining than poolside quaffing. Across her lineup, winemaker Elisa Sesti pampers her grapes using the organic and biodynamic farming methods. They adhere strictly to lunar and planetary cycles to guide them. She also uses the same, massive 30-hectoliter oak botti to age all of the wines.

Giuseppe Maria “Giugi” Sesti did not initially choose a career in wine. Instead, his Venetian upbringing inspired him to study music, art and astronomy, the last of which became his profession. In 1975, Giugi and his wife moved their family to Tuscany, where they bought the abandoned ruins of the hamlet and castle of Argiano, slowly clearing the land and restoring the buildings to create the breathtaking estate that stands today. At this point a father of four and author of books on astronomy, Giugi found spare time to plant vineyards on the slopes around the castle. The children helped pick and stomp grapes from the earliest age, and in 1999, the couple’s only daughter, Elisa, joined the estate full time. Today she is an active partner in all aspects of the vineyard management and winemaking.

While helping out at neighboring estates, Giugi observed that simplicity and careful attention were the most important factors in producing great wines, while chemical intervention skewed their delicate balance, so he determined to make entirely natural wines right from the start. He even took a pioneering extra step by applying his prodigious knowledge of the moon’s influence on living things to his vineyard management and winemaking. Today the family continues this thoroughly eco-friendly philosophy, and Elisa’s primary concern is the "materia prima," or raw material, that goes into the wine.