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Formiche
Costa Toscana, Italy
Owner:
Simone, Gigi, Dylan, and a second Simone
Farming:
Practicing Organic
Production:
Grapes Grown:
Ansonica
Formiche is comprised of four friends: Simone, Gigi, Dylan, and a second Simone. Three winemakers and an agronomist who crossed paths and shared experiences in various parts of the world before finding themselves back in Tuscany. The project was born from the reunions they would organize once a month to have dinner and blind-taste various wines. The spark got bigger overtime and they realized they were all sharing the same feelings, the same energy, the same vision, and the same dream: to explore and elevate the grape variety: Ansonica. A late-ripening white variety (with a alluring golden hue once ripe) planted along the coast of Tuscany (and it’s nearby islands) since the 11th century. Ansonica is considered more rustic by modern oenological standards, and hence too often replaced with more aromatic and “on-trend” grapes. It has an intriguing history, and at its best clearly expresses the Tuscan coastal “marine” terroir. The name “Formiche” has a double meaning - it refers to a group of very small islands just off the coast of Tuscany, and Formiche is the Italian translation of ‘ants’: there individual strength and cooperate energy embodied the spirit of the team. While finding the name was easy, finding the vineyards was anything but simple. Not much Ansonica had been left in the area, and they looked obsessively for the right site. Eventually the guys found a small 2 hectare parcel of dilapidated 30 year old vines south of the Maremma coast in a town called Capalbio, just a few kilometers from the sea that they’ve painstakingly restored and are now gently tended with green manure, herbal teas, copper, and sulfur are used. Fermentations are spontaneous, whole bunches are gently pressed, no clarifications or fining, and sulfur added only as necessary. “We strongly believe in a truly shared project - to produce a wine that we like and can represent what Ansonica means to us, as producers, and as Tuscan people”.
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