M.L. Fioretti

After he and a group of investors purchased Cerbaiona in 2015, Matthew Fioretti embarked on a project to overhaul the estate. As all the vineyards were replanted over six years, he bought in some fruit – and while tracking down discovered the Casaglia vineyard, with one hectare of old-vine Colorino. A grape he describes as Tuscany’s Petit Verdot, he made a mere 960 bottles from the site in 2018. This was the first wine to be bottled under the M.L. Fioretti label, one he describes as “part garagiste, part petit château”.

He will buy in fruit from certain parcels, while others are those he has planted himself. All bottled as IGT Toscana, the label allows for more experimental bottlings to complement the classical wines from the Montalcino estate. Alongside indigenous Tuscan grapes, he is also exploring Bordeaux varietals – feeling that these undeniably great grapes can have greater value than “insisting upon local varietals at all cost”.

There are five different wines to date, all made in small volumes – between 1,000 and 4,000 bottles, depending on the wine. The range so far has included: the Casaglia Colorino, P.V.D. (a blend of Petit Verdot and Ancelotta), Cellalto (a wine he describes as his “baseline Super Tuscan”, Merlot with 10% Sangiovese), San Vito (pure Merlot) and Santinovo (a Cabernet Franc dominant blend with Cabernet Sauvignon). All made at the Cerbaiona estate, these are vibrant and pure expressions of their site and variety, made by one of Tuscany’s top winemakers.