Named after the three small rivers that converge on the property, I Tre Borri is the most profound and generous arrow in Corzano’s quiver. It is pure Sangiovese sourced from three parcels of the estate’s oldest vines, planted by Wendel Gelpke in the 1970s, cropped at levels that deliver enough fruit for one bottle per vine. As of 2015, Corzano has declassified this bottling from Chianti Riserva to Toscana Rosso. Aljoscha Goldschmidt felt that the image of the Riserva DOCG was in a tailspin, and for this bottling—crafted from the cream of Corzano’s Sangiovese—he preferred the IGT Toscana Rosso badge to convey the quality and philosophy behind this label.

With minimal pushdowns, the wine can spend up to a month on skins before being pressed off to 25-hectolitre large-format oak and used tonneaux for just under two years. And while it is the only Corzano red that sees some new barrels (sourced from a very fine Burgundy cooperage), the oak is always deftly integrated within the layers of ripe fruit and textured fullness that are the hallmarks of this wine.

From a warm year, this is gorgeous: spicy, complex aromas and then a sleek and fresh palate with an intensity that almost fastens itself to your tongue—plus stacks of potential lurking beneath its elegant façade. Ripe cherry and tobacco, dried herbs, spices and iron-filing characters give the textured palate enormous nuance and complexity. The finish is long and mouth-watering, with sour-plum Sangiovese acidity and fully ripe, fine tannins driving to a lingering close. Although it is beautifully balanced today, this will surely age well.

Organic. It is perhaps surprising to recall that the first recorded mention of Chianti—via the correspondence of Tuscan merchant Francesco di Marco Datini in 1398—referred to a white wine. It was evidently an important category back in the day. Today, while Tuscan whites are still struggling to find their mojo, Corzano’s Il Corzanello shows how much potential there is for delicious vino bianco grown on the rocky slopes of the Colli Fiorentini. 

This eclectic blend combines organically grown Semillon, Petit Manseng, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Trebbiano and Malvasia from the gravelly, clay- and limestone-rich soils of San Casciano. The grapes are pressed as whole bunches before fermenting with indigenous yeasts, with the wine raised simply in steel tanks. Each variety is vinified and aged separately, on its lees, before blending, and Arianna Gelpke blocks malolactic conversion to ensure as much racy tension as possible. 

Without any variety dominating, it is pure, textural and fresh with whispers of white-peach sweetness speckled by spring leaf, citrus and white flowers. There is plenty of vinous drive and a twinkle of minerals, while the finish carries a nip of phenolic, quinine-like grip. It works as well with grilled fish as with a goat’s cheese tart.

Organic. This is Corzano’s delicious and easy-drinking entry-level red—an IGT Toscana Rosso bringing together Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon, with a dollop of Merlot. Named after the medieval fortified farmhouse on Corzano’s property, fruit for this wine chiefly grows on the estate’s cooler sites, and the winemaking is tuned towards preserving the wine’s vibrant aromas and bright-fruited charm. Accordingly, the grapes are given a pre-fermentation cold soak for nine days before the wine begins fermenting naturally in stainless steel. “We are not looking for lots of structure,” says winemaker Arianna Gelpke, and so the juices are separated from their skins after only a few days to continue their fermentation in stainless-steel vats. 

This is Tuscan value at its finest: supple and fresh with floral and herb-scented red fruit aromas and a succulent, sweet-fruited palate bound by food-friendly Tuscan tannins and freshening acidity. Ready for drinking now, this lip-smacking rosso is the kind of wine where one bottle is rarely enough. Try it with anything from barbequed chicken or silky ragù to woodfired pizza—a wine for all occasions.

The estate’s core wine is the Chianti Terre di Corzano, which translates as ‘soils of Corzano’. It’s a blend of 90% Sangiovese co-fermented with 10% Canaiolo, all hand-harvested from Corzano’s rocky, south-facing slopes. The soils here are what the Italians call alberese—compact clay/limestone littered with pebbles—which tends to yield particularly aromatic reds. 

Incorporating 15% whole bunches, the wine was naturally fermented and aged in a combination of 25- and 40-hectolitre botti, a traditional maturation that has become rare in today’s barrique-obsessed Tuscany. Arianna Gelpke enjoys the softening impact of large-format wood on Sangiovese tannins, and we can only agree. 

From an outstanding vintage, Corzano’s transparent style, emphasising purity of fruit, is in full flight. It’s bursting with the essence of hillside Sangiovese, with fresh cherry and berry aromas and a refined and silky palate perfectly framed by cooling bergamot tang and feathery tannins. The Canaiolo brings a dab of spice to the palette of cherry, liquorice and woodland complexity that builds to a juicy finish. It’s welcoming right down to the final swallow; a moreish snapshot of the Florentine hills.