Emiliano Falsini Cab Franc Il Debbio IGT Costa Toscana – 2021

This Cabernet Franc comes from vines averaging 30 years old in the excellent 2021 vintage. It has spicy, floral red and dark berry fruit flavours with impressive fruit concentration and depth. Despite its 14.5% alcohol, it shows impeccable freshness, balance and elegance and it has very fine tannins. A beautiful wine which – from this expensive wine region – is exceptional value!

Enjoy with mixed cheeses, cured meats, baked pasta and lasagna.

Less than 200 cases were produced. Drink now – 2030.

Emiliano Falsini is one of the best respected winemaking consultants in Italy, consulting for several of the country’s top organic producers. In 2017 he purchased 4 hectares of 30 year old vines in the most northerly area of Bolgheri, near Bibbona, and in the 2019 vintage he started bottling his own wines there. Both the wines he produces here are made entirely from Cabernet Franc, which is perfectly suited to the area’s rich clay soils with a high proportion of calcareous stones. Bolgheri is a warm and sunny region situated in the west of Tuscany along the Mediterranean coast, with a climate which is perfect for growing full bodied, fruit-packed reds from a mix of mainly French grapes – Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet Franc. The main challenge here is to maintain freshness in the wines, and Emiliano is convinced that Cabernet Franc, with its high natural acidity and vibrancy and affinity to the area’s cool, water-retaining clay soils, is the perfect grape for the ever-warming future in this region. The other benefit which Bolgheri DOC has in relation to most other winegrowing areas in Italy is that irrigation is permitted here – also very useful in combatting the effects of climate change.

Emiliano produces his 2 Cabernet Franc wines 100% organically, using no artificial fertilisers or herbicides in the vineyard. His grapes are very carefully picked and sorted by hand, so that only the healthiest grapes go into the wine. He uses local, wild yeasts for his fermentations. His “Il Debbio” label spends 10 months in a mix of 58% clay amphorae, which give the wines velvet smooth tannins, and 42% small oak barrels. His “Limite” wine spends 10 months in 100% small oak barrels, which gives it a little more structure, complexity and ageing ability.