Provveditore Morellino di Scansano 2019

Provveditore Morellino 2019, the nuances of Scansano

The Provveditore Morellino di Scansano 2019 is for those who love reds shaped by time in barrel, without wood becoming their only subject. Made from Sangiovese, it pairs patient aging with a terroir of tuff and limestone. I recommend it for its measured profile: fruit and oak are both present, while the announced structure remains of medium intensity.

Scansano, between hillsides and family tradition

This wine is produced by Provveditore di Scansano, a family estate near Scansano, in southwestern Tuscany. The Bargagli family has carried the project forward for five generations, letting old vines, more recent plantings and olive trees coexist. This continuity gives the wine a local anchorage, without erasing the work done in the cellar: tradition accompanies renewed production techniques.

The vines of the 2019 Morellino sit at 350 meters of altitude, on soils described as tufaceous and calcareous. They are on average between twenty and thirty years old and are farmed traditionally, with limited yields. The grapes are harvested at optimal ripeness, then macerate for about twenty days and ferment at controlled temperature in stainless steel tanks. The wine is then aged eighteen months in barrels, then at least eight months in bottle before its release. It is a Sangiovese red aged in wood, within the Morellino di Scansano DOCG appellation.

The available tasting notes do not detail precise aromas: I prefer therefore not to attribute to the wine notes of fruit, spice or flowers that are not documented. We know it is a structured and powerful red, and that its profile sits midway on the scale between fruitiness and spiciness, as between lightness and fullness. The influence of the barrel, for its part, is rated fairly low on that same scale: aging matters, but does not alone define the style. Expect therefore a balanced expression rather than an extreme red, with an assertive presence without announced heaviness.

At the table, with cured meats or red meat

At the table, I would serve it with a plate of cured meats or a red meat, pairings suggested to accompany its structure. It can find its place during a convivial meal, when you wish to open a Tuscan red aged in barrel and take the time to savor it. To appreciate its character without attributing imagined aromas to it, let it speak through its origin, its Sangiovese and its long months of maturation. A bottle to share simply, around a table where the dish also keeps its place.