Vernaccia di San Gimignano

The rules place viticulture at San Gimignano in Etruscan times. Vernaccia appears in the commune's tax ordinances (Ordinamenti delle Gabelle) of 1276, which charged three soldi on every soma sold outside the commune. The rules give two accounts of the grape: that it was brought from Liguria (Vernazza) around 1200 by one Vieri de' Bardi, or that its name comes from the Latin vernaculum, 'local'. They call its origin uncertain. Dante placed Pope Martin IV in Purgatory for the eels of Bolsena 'and the Vernaccia' (Purgatorio XXIV). Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger described a wine that 'kisses, licks, bites, pricks and stings', and in 1541 Sante Lancerio, bottler to Pope Paul III, called it a perfect drink for lords.

After the medieval and Renaissance boom the wine almost vanished until growers revived it after the Second World War. It became a DOC in 1966 and a DOCG in 1993. A genetic study for the consortium by a University of Siena spin-off found today's vines genetically uniform.

The zone lies wholly within San Gimignano, halfway between the Tyrrhenian coast and the Apennine ridge, on hills from 67 to 629 m. The soils are Pliocene, 6.8-1.8 million years old. Vernaccia grows on marine deposits of yellow sand (locally tufo) and yellow and grey clays, often layered over more compact clays at depth, with sand, stones and clay schists that let roots go down. The rules allow only well-exposed hillsides up to 500 m on yellow sands and sandy or medium clays; vineyards lie between 70 and 500 m, with slope and exposure varying by hillside. The consortium describes soil depth, slope and exposure changing across the commune.

The climate is sub-Mediterranean, with rather dry summers, rather cold winters and about 700 mm of rain on 83 days, least in summer and most in autumn. The zone is well ventilated all year and fog is rare.

According to the rules, the varying mix of sand, clay, organic matter and stones in each soil sets the sapidity, freshness and ageing capacity that both unite and distinguish individual Vernaccias. The wine is straw yellow with golden reflections that deepen with age, delicate and fine, with fruit at first and mineral notes that develop with time, and dry, harmonious and sapid, sometimes with a typical bitter almond aftertaste. The rules contrast this with the old wine described by Michelangelo the Younger, sweet but tannic, and attribute the difference to growing and winemaking methods rather than to the grape, as DNA studies suggest.

The wine must contain at least 85% Vernaccia di San Gimignano. Other non-aromatic white grapes suited to Tuscany may make up 15%, but Traminer, Moscato bianco, Müller-Thurgau, Malvasia di Candia, Malvasia istriana and Incrocio Bruni 54 are banned, and Sauvignon blanc and Riesling together may not exceed 10%. Training on overhead tendone is forbidden. The Riserva ages at least 11 months from 1 January after the harvest, plus three months in bottle, and needs 12.5% alcohol against 11.5% for the basic wine; residual sugar may not exceed 4 g/l. The consortium notes that style varies with site and winemaking, so no single tasting note fits every bottle.