A family legacy, a friendship and a wine

Filippo Corsini spoke with enormous energy and enthusiasm when he first described to me the project of fico, a biodynamic wine he wanted to grow on the slopes of the San Casciano estate that his family had owned and cultivated since the 1300’s.

We became friends in a busy New Yotk city kitchen.
I was a sous chef and he was on a summer internship.
He arrived very focused on truly understanding the role that wine played in a succesful restaurant, both from a business and experiental standpoint.
Over the summer he diligently worked every position until he understood the theatre of it all.

Fresh off a period of working for his uncle’s biodynamic vineyard in Argentina, Filippo arrived with an intense passion for biodynamic wine.
He also had a plan.
He was convinced, knowing the success his father had with the vines on their land, that biodynamic cultivating was worth the risk and moreover, a bold move towards the future.
At that point, he needed to convince his father to give him a start with a couple of rows.
We crossed our fingers tightly for him.

Today, I live in Tuscany and work with filippo’s family.
I run a very unique culinary class and I am a private chef for the vacation villa here at Villa Le Corti.
I also have the honor to partecipate in the harvest 2021 of Fico and Per Filo wine, which will be released early this year.

I’m fortunate to spend time with the wonderful guests here who are always interested in how I moved to tuscany from New York City.
It is perfect moment to share my memories of Filippo and the success of his dreams where they can see his vineyard and taste his wine.
My memories become a story.
And as that person shares that some story with someone new, we expand his legacy, which is important to us all.

A study of biodynamics in honor of Earth Day

BD507 Preparation

A compost preparation made from valerian (valeriana officinalis) a perennial herbaceous plant.

Diluiting the preparation 507 with collected rain water.

The mixture must be stirred vigorously.

The Result

A solution to be sprayed in the vineyard that stimulates microlife in the soil and prevents a late frost.

A natural choice that favors the environment we live in.

Introducing Per Filo!

The idea behind Per Filo was to produce a new wine that was in line with the atmosphere and experiences that Filippo encountered during his sabbatical year travelling the world. On his return to the family home at Villa Le Corti, Filippo decided to put his new-found into action in a project with his father. Having already understood exactly what it took to produce a great wine he set out with a clear aim: to create a wine that would symbolise a new direction for production, working in harmony with the rhythm and biological cycles of the vines and nature. For Filippo, this project was not only a modern take on the example set by his family, but also an authentic philosophy for life.

After two years Clotilde and Duccio, Filippo’s parents, in keeping with Fico Wine’s philosophy, continued Filippo’s work following the 2017 harvest. Together with Laura and Claudio, in spite of the difficult vintage, they produced the second wine that Filippo had envisaged.

2017 therefore marked PerFilo’s first harvest, 100% sangiovese, dedicated to Filippo.

Taken from a section of the Gugliaie vineyard with less stones, but using the same biodynamic approach, Fico’s team produced a wine that truly embodies Filippo’s vision for viticulture. The 1,976 organically certified bottles produced also signify the future philosophy of Fico Wine’s partner in this project, Principe Corsini.

Wine auction for Filippo Corsini Charity Event

Special Wines for a special day.

We would like to thank all the producers, that donated their wines for a special fundraising evening in memory of Filippo Corsini to support London Cycling Campaign, and Boglione family for hosting us at Petersham Nurseries.

Filippo Corsini Charity Fundraising Banquet at Petersham Nurseries

On Thursday 14th March, Filippo’s birthday, we invite you to Petersham Nurseries as they host a very special fundraising banquet to raise awareness of road safety issues in and around London. All proceeds from the dinner will be donated to the London Cycling Campaign (LCC), a London based charity which represents ‘The voice of cyclists in London’.

The Boglione family say “Since opening in 2004 Petersham Nurseries has been an advocate of sustainable travel, working alongside the Borough Council to produce Green Travel Plans and encouraging staff and visitors alike to take up cycling. It is therefore a great privilege this year to be able to support the Corsini family in both their awareness campaign for road safety and fundraising for the London Cycling Campaign”.

Petersham Nurseries

For the event, guests will be served a spring banquet within the candlelight glasshouse restaurant Petersham Nurseries Café. Tickets include a three-course feasting-style sharing menu, a glass of prosecco on arrival and wines from Giovanni Mazzei and the Mazzei estate (husband to Petersham Nurseries’ Managing Director Lara Boglione).

There will be speeches by Fillippo’s Father, Duccio Corsini CEO of Principe Corsini winery and the CEO of London Cycling Campaign Dr. Ashok Sinha, which will be followed by a charity auction of some exclusive Italian wines.

We hope you can join us for this special and very worthy fundraising evening!

It's time to prune the Fico vines

Now the moment has come to prune the Fico vines according to the guidelines of the biodynamic calendar.

Particular attention must be given to the pruning: we need to try to regulate the balance of the vines by creating an equilibrium of the number of new shoots  - therefore the buds - keeping in mind what we want to achieve at the time of the maturing of the leafing of the plant: this is when the quality of the pruning on the vine can be seen clearly.

Our objective is the provoke as little impact as possible on the vine, taking care to limit the cutting to enable the subsequent healing of the plant.To use a simple example, in the vineyard we use the expression ‘tagli sporchi’ meaning an incomplete or ‘unneven' removal of the woody parts of the shoots which will in time dry and become withered and then subsequently removed, in order to avoid any wounds by cutting to much in to the plant and damaging the lymphatic system of the branches and stems.

The result of this approach is the creation of a type of protective cord which may seem random in appearance but is particularly functional: after all the focus of the cultivation of the vines starts here, a focus on the health and the wellness of the plants which, will in time produce the grapes.

Season's greetings

FICO wishes you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

full of Peace, Love and Joy!

Thank you Fiona Corsini for the amazing drawing

From the cellar diary

The destalking together with the careful selection of the grapes concludes one of the most important phases of our work. Having selected manually the grapes we filled seven of our ‘ barriques' or small barrels without the use of pumps or in order to limit completely the stressing of the fruit pulp and the skin.

We then awaited the beginning of the fermentation process which began after two days and continued for a further three weeks. During this phase any interference on our part is kept to a minimum: only intervening to stir the grapes daily, rigorously by hand, to homogenise the must.

On the completion of the primary fermentation and following a further week of maceration with the skins of the grapes we separated the grape residue from the fermented juice using the force of gravity, again without the use of pumps or mechanical presses, obtaining three barriques. Now we must observe closely the wine awaiting the onset of the malolactic fermentation process which results in a natural de- acidification and softening of the wine's aroma, flavour and texture.

From the harvest diary

5th - 6th September 2017

The telling of the story of the harvest of Fico is like trying to describe a painting so full of colour we are not sure where to start. However, lets begin with the sky, transparent with fleeting thin wispy strands of cloud accompanied by a light breeze and a still warm sun.

The grapes managed to reach maturity during a summer which tested not just us but all fauna and flora thanks to the lack of rain and the extremely high temperatures. These grapes we know well: we have watched them form, grow and become that what we see today, which, seems to us a beautiful thing.

The grape harvest signifies the selection of only the best grapes, discarding all the fruit not considered suitable to find its way to the cellars: some grapes did not reach maturity, some became withered on the vine.

Highly specialised, this work constitutes the link with all that precedes it in the vineyard, that is, a careful management of the land such as; the aim to draw moisture to the surface of the earth during the period of the rigid drought, the cultivation and control of the protective canopy of the small branches and leaves on the area of the vine facing the strongest sun and the weaving of elevated waves above the vines with the buds and new leaves in order to eliminate the trauma of the pruning and cutting of the vine.

We are in many for the harvest: there are the professionals, those whose primary occupation is in the vineyard, flanked by the many friends of Elena and Filippo, young hands all instructed on how to assure the quality of the fruit to be selected. To the many colours we can now add the many voices of those working, sharing and telling stories but never losing sight of the objective.

Everyone is dressed in the same white T-shirt bearing the name and the logo of FICO and thanks to this we can see at a distance a concentration of candid white clothed figures moving throughout the vines, selecting, cutting and carefully laying the bunches of grapes in their boxes ready for the cellars. The boxes then are quickly collected and brought to the cellars where the selection process begins for the transformation of the fruit into must.

Getting ready for the harvest

Tomorrow, the 5th of September, a ‘flower day’, in accordance with the bio-dynamic calendar we will begin the harvest and we cannot deny a certain emotion in bringing home the fruits of our labour.

This vintage will be remembered for the lack of rainfall; for the unnatural cold snap in mid April that caused much frost damage in certain areas of the vineyard; for the incessant heat, that challenged also our resistance. We have worked and tended this earth with the utmost respect, seeking to listen and to adapt to the needs of the moment through timely management of the soil and the eco-system of the vine, without ever forcing our hand; the light leaf cover has allowed the grapes a shield against the searing sun created by the weaving of the sprouting stems and foliage, thus respecting the natural balance of the vine and avoiding further trauma to the grapes considering the very high temperatures.

We have constantly tasted the grapes throughout and we are now sure that the characteristics in the fruit that distinguish Fico have arrived. For this reason we are getting ready for the harvest, the ‘ vendemmia', a further adventure in the transformation and the evolution of our beloved grapes.

p.s. since January 250 mm of rain was recorded here at Le Corti. In a full year, from our records, the rainfall usually averages 850 mm.