FABBRICA DI SAN MARTINO
Fabbrica Bianco 2020
Tuscany, Italy
A blend of equal parts Trebbiano, Vermentino and Malvasia planted over clay and limestone. The grapes were destemmed and spent a day on skins, before being pressed off to old casks for a little rest. Saline and herbaceous, this has just the right amount of flesh and grip, making for a white wine of real presence that begs to be enjoyed as Beppe would, alongside a wonderful Tuscan-style fish stew.
Trebbiano, Vermentino, Malvasia
ABOUT THE PRODUCER
The Fabbrica di San Martino was founded in 1735 in the hills outside of the town of Lucca. A twenty hectare property surrounded by woodland, its two and a half hectares of vines are exposed full south and sit within an area of great biological diversity.
Having run one of Lucca’s favourite trattorie for many years, Giuseppe Ferrua began tending the vines here some 20 years ago.
Without any formal training, Beppe learnt by working alongside and watching carefully the ageing contadini who had looked after the land for many years. Having discovered that the vineyards had never been subject to chemicals, he decided to continue this way of farming, later converting the farm to biodynamics.
In the cantina Beppe does the simple things well and employs no tricks or tomfoolery. As is so often the case, a healthy vineyard yields healthy wines and the thing that struck us about these when visiting the area was their purity and drinkability, two characteristics that are sadly missing from a lot of wines in Toscana today.