Fiammae is born, the wine of Gerardo and Lapo Gondi

Good blood will tell: Gerardo and Lapo, the sons of Bernardo Gondi, owner of Tenuta Bossi in Chianti Rufina, have created their first wine.
Just as Bernardo in 1989 vinified as a single variety, for the first time, the Cabernet Sauvignon planted five years earlier — giving life to that Mazzaferrata recently celebrated in a great vertical tasting marking the wine’s 30 years — so Gerardo and Lapo have set out to interpret their own land following their personal vision of Sangiovese.

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It is called Fiammae, a pure Sangiovese made from grapes picked in an estate vineyard lying at an altitude of 300 metres with a south-easterly exposure. The wine owes its distinctive character to the drying of half the grapes for about a month, while the other half are vinified straight away. The grapes are fermented in barrique and then aged separately in French oak barriques. For the fresh grapes a medium-toasted wood was chosen, while for the dried ones a barrique with more austere, powerful notes was preferred. Once the 18 months of ageing were complete, the wine was blended and bottled. It is released after a further 12 months of ageing in bottle.

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The first vintage of Fiammae is 2016, and it is the wine’s own “authors” who explain its name and origins. “Flames recur often in our family,” says Gerardo, born in 1982, “because they are the emblem of the Banco Gondi, and Sangallo wanted them carved on some of the reliefs along the palace’s main staircase. What is more, my daughter is called Fiammetta, a family name. But they are also the flames that stand for the passion my brother and I have for wine.”
Lapo, born in 1986, recounts how the idea for this wine came about: “When Gerardo and I decided in 2015 to «put ourselves to the test» with a new wine, we immediately realised we had different visions of Sangiovese. He had in mind a fresh wine rich in primary aromas, while I wanted a more powerful, austere one. So, given our two different visions, our oenologist Fabrizio Moltard, with his long experience, helped us to blend our two souls with great skill and to give life to Fiammae."

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The name, which echoes Latin, is in the plural, because within the bottle two souls and two flames are to be found: Gerardo’s and Lapo’s, united by an endless passion for Sangiovese.

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