Frasi

The first production year of Frasi was the beginning of a new series of challenges. The desire to and pleasure of measuring oneself with the great wines of the Tuscan tradition, just like challenging a hare to a race…impossible to catch up?

Intense, full days, consumed by hard work, with the satisfaction of doing it, using all of our knowledge, our energy, always hoping that nature will be benevolent. And then, when the choices are right and the progress of the seasons is optimum, the best results are obtained. And so we are truly proud of what we have done.

Simple manners, in use during times when illiteracy was the norm. I don’t regret the past, yet I often reflect on how the many words expressed and the many words written are not necessarily a guarantee of proper conduct, both in work and social relationships. I know it’s not easy but I would like it if, in order to guarantee the quality of a product, all that was needed was a few words and a handshake, a true gentleman’s agreement.

I imagined eavesdropping on an unusual conversation between the wildflower, the grapevine, the olive tree and the oak tree. It was a May night with a full moon, the wildflower started bragging about its beauty and perfume, the grapevine quickly interrupted, laying claim to the superior knowledge of which it was the repository. The olive tree was not alone in sensing and affirming the value of mature experience in the course of its long life. The dialogue continued to escalate when the oak tree intervened – you the wildflower are young, you the grapevine are an adult, you the olive tree are older still, but I?… I am ancient! Even in the awareness of my responsibilities and the weight of my commitments, I never want to be without my imagination.

Attentive and respectful manual viticulture – this is how we like to do it and it is only possible through a continuous and diligent “presence” in the vineyard. Days, weeks and months see us going up and down between the rows, in service to the vines, tending their needs in each particular moment. The hand that prunes, the hand that selects leaves and bunches of grapes is a silent hand that slides between the espaliers to the point of disappearing. Not only that, sometimes our entire person becomes almost indistinguishable, such that the silhouette transforms into a unity with the vines or the stones of the earth.

The days pass and thus, like the seasons, even the years flee quickly. Time passes quietly, as though it wants to minimise and hide its effects on everything and everyone, while knowing how much even the smallest frac=on of itself transforms the world.
As a winemaker I know how much =me can be either a friend or a foe. As they age, vines produce grapes that con=nue to improve un=l they are exhausted and die. This is what’s slowly happening in the vineyard from which we produce “FRASI”.
Un=l 2016, “Frasi” was produced exclusively from grapes harvested from the vineyard planted by my father and my uncles in 1974. Since 2019 we’ve had to include a small percentage of grapes from the Sangiovese vineyard planted in 1999 in order to con=nue producing “FRASI”.
To change while remaining oneself.

To meet people, observe their expressions and gestures, imagine their thoughts, and some6mes get to know them a li9le while listening to what they’re saying is magic. This magic happens o>en, whether seated together around the table in the can6na or facing each other at a tas6ng stand. Even though the main topic of discussion is wine, it o>en occurs that conversa6ons broaden to encompass much more, and this is so beau6ful!

There are many things that I love about my work but one of the most precious is this extraordinary opportunity to meet many people. With the pandemic in 2020 we were obliged to limit our movements as well as our encounters. I missed the handshakes, the hugs and the face-to-face conversa6ons. But finally, wine ta- s6ngs in the can6na resumed, the guests returned and with them returned the pleasure of this mee6ng between “People.”