Campo di Magnacosta was the first of our three Cabernet Franc Crus to be born in 2011 from Andrea Franchetti's idea of enhancing the characteristics of a specific terroir.
It is produced exclusively from a 1.5 hectare plot on the valley floor, planted more than 20 years ago with cuttings from a Pomerol vineyard where Cabernet Franc has grown for three centuries. The vines are deeply rooted in the gravel and alluvial silt of an old river that disappeared beneath the surface and which gave its name to the wine (Magna: eat, Costa: hill).

The short winter, which lasted just one January and ended with the heavy snowfall of February, made us tremble when in the calm of spring it returned, bringing a cold air current from the east that paralyzed every crop.

The plants on the plain had just started their journey towards the 2021 harvest, at least 15 days earlier than usual due to the high temperatures in March, when the entire peninsula, from 7 to 9 April, was overwhelmed by a current of air cold. We cover the vineyards with 4000 anti-frost candles, both on the bottom and on the hills, giving life to an unfortunately necessary evocative show.

In the following months, the plants hit by record-breaking hot temperatures and without any rain draw from the deepest layers of the root system.

We water, but it's not enough. We thin out heavily to lighten the plants and give them the opportunity to complete ripening on a few bunches and exploit the minimal resources of the year. We leave the wildest vineyards, so that leaves and shoots protect the bunches from sunburn. The summer months pass without rain, until the end of August.

Thus begins a summer September, hot and scorching, where the bunches find a bit of comfort only at night, when the valley is crossed by currents of fresh air that descends steeply from Amiata. On September 9th we take away the small half hectare of Semillon which has now reached maturity.

We taste the Merlots in search of maturity but the result is still just a cloying sugar devoid of flavour. On 17/09 the long-awaited water arrives which revitalises everything, momentarily lowers temperatures and makes the Merlot explode in fruit and flavours, so we take advantage of the cooler days and hours to harvest from 21st to 24th September. Sparse and light grapes with fiery red stems, still earlier than usual.

With the Merlot fermenting in the cellar we await the Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon while the temperatures rise again and the summer really seems to never end. The ripeness is still far away, Autumn presents itself with heavy rains repeated from 4 to 7 October, with nights reaching below zero. We collect the Franc bunches left hanging in the frost of the night on October 12th, 14th and 16th, small intact bunches with the skin thickened by the beating sun and a generous pulp. In an instant the weather turned wintry, we ran to get our jackets. On 16 and 21 October we finally harvest the later Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot in a now cold climate.

The resulting wines have firmer tannins marked by drought and the various stages of maturation, but with a nose and body strongly conditioned by seasonal breaks and the onset of cold weather, with lively noses and dense but energetic and fresh bodies.

We let the 45 parcels rest in barriques until the new year to decide on the blends for this 2021 vintage.