94 Pt (JS) Le Pupille Morellino Riserva-Stunning Sangiovese

MAGNIFICENT MORELLINO!

“Not long ago, we promoted the 2015 Le Pupille Morellino di Scansano Riserva, which was a really good wine but not in the same league as the subsequent vintage. Considered the finest Riserva from Le Pupille to date, the stunning 94 point 2016 Le Pupille Morellino di Scansano Riserva is a mind blowing Sangiovese, from the 'vintage of a lifetime,' and it's only $21.99! As I've noted previously, every up-and-coming wine region has one winery to thank for the region’s rise to greatness and, in the case of Morellino di Scansano, located on the Tuscan coast, we can thank Elisabetta Geppetti, proprietor of Fattoria Le Pupille. She had a vision thirty plus years ago and today she not only produces some of the finest wines in Scansano but some of the most sought-after wines in Tuscany. Elisabetta along with her winemaker, Luca D’Attoma, raised the bar again in 2013 and brought in casks and barrels with wider staves, allowing the wines to mature more slowly and give greater respect to varietal correctness. If the name Luca D’Atoma sounds familiar, he is currently or has been the winemaker for such legendary wineries such as Tua Rita, Le Macchiole, DueMani, and countless others.

I tasted the wines this past December and was blown away. I am excited that it has finally arrived in store and it is the perfect Tuscan to kick off the new year! The Riserva uses a selection of the best fruit from the estate, mostly Sangiovese, with a touch of Cabernet Sauvignon. This is one of Italy's outstanding Sangiovese blends at an amazingly affordable price. If we can’t be in Tuscany, at least we can drink like we are! Drink well and stay healthy.” – Lance Montalto, The Wine House

Check out our CLOSEOUT wines on our website! Quantities are limited to current stock and new closeout wines are added regularly!

NOTE: The Wine House is not open for walk-in customers. We offer curbside pickup between 11AM and 6PM. Please see below for UPDATED curbside pickup instructions and contact us before coming to the store. Please let us know if you have multiple orders to consolidate.

CHAT! If you see a chat bubble in the lower right corner on our website, a Wine House employee is ready to answer your questions. Please note that chat is only available between 11AM and 6PM, and the bubble only displays when an employee is available. Chat agents can answer many questions, but cannot process orders.

LOCAL DELIVERY! For orders over $250, we now offer Special Local Delivery
Monday - Friday to addresses up to 10 miles from the store for $8/case. Additional delivery options are also available on our website.

94 Points: “This is very dense and polished with a beautiful texture of fruit and polished tannins. Creamy and caressing. Full body. Tight and intense. Complex flavors of berries, spices, cedar and chocolate, as well as light meat. Equal to the excellent 2015. Sangiovese and cabernet sauvignon. Drink or hold.” – James Suckling (November 2019)

93 Points: “The 2016 Morellino di Scansano Riserva has made a great leap forward in recent vintages. The blend is 90% Sangiovese and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the wine is aged in old Saffredi barrique along with larger botte. The wine shows a stunning crispness and a sharp focus in this vintage. It opens to black cherry notes and generous red fruit, with very lightly toasted almond and spice at the back. The mouthfeel is full, and while the bouquet starts off a bit closed, the finish grows steadily in volume and girth. It would be a nice accompaniment to grilled portobello mushrooms. Some 60,000 bottles were made. This wine offers excellent value from coastal Tuscany.” – Monica Larner, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate (August 2019)

92 Points: “The 2016 Morellino di Scansano Riserva is a big, powerful wine. Black cherry, spice, leather, espresso, cedar and grilled herbs give this boisterous Riserva tons of richness and intensity. The addition of ten percent Cabernet Sauvignon gives the 2016 distinctly savory top notes that, while attractive, add a vegetal quality that is evident. Perhaps in the wine's early days, the Cabernet gave something to the wine, but today, I am not sure it does. Drinking Window 2020 – 2031.” – Antonio Galloni, Vinous (March 2020)

FROM THE WINERY

The Riserva represents the roots of Fattoria Le Pupille. It is the first wine being produced and commercialized within the newly created Morellino di Scansano production disciplinary, paving the way to a profound bond with the appellation.

Denomination: Morellino di Scansano DOCG Riserva
Variety: 90% Sangiovese, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon
Alcohol: 14.5%
Total Acidity: 5.3 g/L
Vineyards position: La Carla vineyard (Magliano in Toscana), vineyards Maiano and Bozzino (Istia d’Ombrone), San Vittorio, Vecchie Pupille (Pereta), altitude 50-250 meters above sea level.
Vineyard surface: 14 ha, 1.5 ha, 9 ha, 2.5 ha, 4 ha, 10 ha
Soil: clay and iron based soil with a good presence of gravel
Implantation Date: from the end of the 80s for the older implantations until 2002 for the more recent ones.
Implantation Density: from 3750 plants/ha to 6250 plants/ha, depending on the age of the vineyard
Cultivation System: cordon-trained
Grapevine/Hectare Yield: 80 ql
Harvest: end of September for Sangiovese, first half of October for Cabernet Sauvignon
Fermentation temperature: 26ºC in inox steel tanks
Maceration time: 20 days
Aging: 15 months in 20-40 hl big barrels of Slavonian oak
Production: 55.000 bottles
First vintage produced: 1978
Profile: great expression of a ripe Sangiovese grape with scents of marasca cherry and aromatic hints that recalls the Mediterranean brushwood. Elegant and silky, medium to full body. Fresh but fully ready, with lovely ripe tannins.
Food Pairing: Perfect with typical tuscan pasta-based courses, red meat or game, as well as with aged cheeses and mustards

ABOUT FATTORIA LE PUPILLE

A succession of gentle hills watching over the majestic contour of the Monte Amiata. It’s precisely from one of these soft and sensual hills that the story of Fattoria Le Pupille begins and leads it to how it is seen today: a heterogenous reality. In the course of the years, the originating core of the winery effectively enriched itself of new grape particles, reaching today 75 hectares of vineyards, distributed like many mosaic pieces between many stunning areas of Maremma. Another 20 hectares are destined to the olives, and then cereals and cork oaks alternate with pastures reaching up to 420 hectares of overall property.

1985: It can be considered the year of re-foundation of the winery, when from a family wine estate, it starts becoming a modern and entrepreneurial viticultural reality to which Elisabetta Geppetti dedicates energies and dreams. Elisabetta abandoned the university halls for the vineyards and the winery, replanted Cabernet Sauvignon on a few vines of Sangiovese, which in ’85 starts bearing fruits, all with the support of Giacomo Tachis, much more than a technical consultation. It is the birth of the project that has made the winery the true pioneer of Maremma. In 1982 the first ‘official’ label is released, a Morellino Riserva 1978. In 1987, it is the time of Saffredi, the wine that has made Maremma known for its excellence, not only in Tuscany, but much further away form its borders. In 1996, the purchase of the Poggio Valente vineyard gives an even more important turn to the winery.

The core of the property is around the village of Pereta, it is of overall 25 hectares which are now called the ‘old’ Pupille and include a 5 hectare vineyard which gives life to the winery’s legendary wine: Saffredi. With Pereta nearby, the old Pupille are situated between Scansano and Magliano in Toscana, two names which belong to the historical heart of Maremma’s viticulture. Around the village of Pereta, past the Saffredi vineyard, we find Poggio Valente, a one bodied vineyard following the soft hill situated 280 m above sea level. In proximity of Scansano, a 4 hectares plot of land is planted with white grapevines, whilst right outside the gates of Magliano we find a 20 hectare vineyard destined to the production of Morellino. The path that connects the various vineyards of Le Pupille is a path which stretches around a big part of Maremma. A path made of intense light, warm colors, and silhouettes of Judas trees, which seem to set fire to the hills with their vibrant rose pink leaves.

UPDATED CURBSIDE PICKUP INSTRUCTIONS:

1) Place your online order.
- You will receive 2 emails. The first will acknowledge receipt of your order and the second will let you know that your order is ready for pickup.

2) Please reply to the second email to tell us you want curbside pickup. IMPORTANT: If you have multiple orders to consolidate, please let us know as we will need extra time to get those to the front of the store!
- We will prepare your order(s), move them to the front of the store and send you a confirmation email that curbside pickup is ready.

3) Pull up in front of the store. There is no need to call when you arrive at the store – just roll down your passenger window and let us know the name on the order(s).
- We will put your order(s) in your vehicle. There is no need to step out of your vehicle.

Due to the large number of phone calls we have been receiving and the time it takes to consolidate orders, please reply to the email letting you know that your wine is ready for pickup and give us time stage and consolidate your order(s). There is no need to phone the store to arrange curbside pickup.