Our soil

To maximize the potential of our ‘terroir', we devote all possible care to the management of the soil. We choose when to turn and work the ground or when to keep intact the grassy surface growth on the basis of what we wish to achieve, objectives we have set ourselves to ensure standards of the highest quality. To evaluate the result of our work, we always use qualitative methods: with the spade and our sense of touch or with our noses and our sense of smell.

Our soil is soft to the touch and sweetly scented, rich in organic matter that has accumulated thanks to the use of green manure and this makes us very proud!

Waves along the vineyard...

In order to devote the utmost respect to the leafy wall of the vine we have decided to not trim or prune the leaves as they advance upwards as this would create suffering wounding the vine but instead we have woven the new leaves and shoots around the trellises in undulating waves along the vineyard.

It's summertime!

In the air the scents of the hot season are all around. The vines appear as rich concentrations of vibrant green amidst the yellowed grasses and the colours of the seasonal summer flowers.

The bunches of grapes are already formed: hanging heavy from the trellises reminding us that the harvest is not so far away, although the path is a long one and there is still much to do…

Robert Parker rates FICO

We are happy to announce Robert Parker and the Wine Advocate, in its coverage of ”Italy: The Tuscan Ten” featured Fico Wine 2015 and awarded the wine a rating of RP 92+

This award is a significant achievement for the creator of Fico, Filippo Corsini, of whom we are all very proud and this award is a testament to his vision and his determination, his love for the natural world and his intuition regarding what could be achieved.

We, through this further accolade, are even more determined to continue on the path that Filippo forged, to continue his interpretation, his own personal vision of winemaking, to continue a holistic bio-dynamic approach to the making of wine, to continue his contemporary interpretation of tradition. Filippo continues to leave his mark.

“The 2015 Fico is a delicate and pure expression of Sangiovese made according to careful organic and biodynamic principles. The wine bears a striking resemblance to Burgundian Pinot Noir both in approach and quality. It opens to a pale garnet color with bright ruby highlights. The bouquet starts slowly to reveal wild berry, blue violet and blanched almond. In the mouth, the wine presents energetic verve and beautifully balanced freshness. This wine will stand out to those looking for beautifully ethereal Sangiovese. Monica Larner”
 

Today we welcomed the bees!

Small but loud, they are accompanied by scents of the broom and sweet cut grass filling the air. They have found a home among the oaks and cherry trees at Le Corti.

Good job, girls!

Green Manure

The rows in the vineyard where we planted the seeds in the green manure have become a lush abundant weave of many different flowers and plants: sweet peas alternate with mustard, fava beans, phacelia, vetch, barley and oats.

Looking out over the vineyard the eye is drawn to the colours of the blooms along the rows of vines, colours which cling to the bright sharp green undergrowth made even more intense by the recent rains.

Now the time has arrived to restore to the soil the organic material grown up over the winter and the start of spring: buried below ground within a few hours of being finely cut and chopped.

This is the fertilisation we adopt in our vineyard, 100% sustainable.

What Tom Maresca thinks about Fico

Last March Duccio Corsini, owner of Le Corti Estate, organized an important dinner with wine tasting at Babbo restaurant in New York.  These are the impressions on FICO that the wine journalist Tom Maresca reported on his blog Tom's wine line:

 “... we were offered a very special wine called Fico, which Corsini believes represents the shape of the future for the Le Corti estate and perhaps for all of Tuscan wine. This project was initiated by his son, who died last fall in a tragic accident. The wine is 100% organically grown and organically vinified Sangiovese. We tasted the 2015 pilot vintage, of which only 280 bottles were made, so this was a rare privilege. Even beyond its rarity, it was one of the most striking Tuscan wines I have ever tasted. Every one of us journalists had the same reaction to our first sip: Pinot noir! Excellent Pinot noir!  And yet it was all unmanipulated Sangiovese. That was the front and middle of the mouth. The back of the mouth and the finish were pure Sangiovese, but that opening taste – and this persisted as we drank our way through the bottle – showed us all a dimension of Sangiovese that we had not known existed.
I’m sorry to get so geeky about where-on-my-palate-I-tasted-what, but something like this doesn’t happen every day, and I found it pretty exciting. It is going to be very interesting indeed to see where Principe Corsini goes with this."

Dynmization

Spring has arrived and the temperature is rising so we have begun spreading preparation 500, also known as cow horn manure to activate the life forces of the vine. The preparation uses fresh cow dung composted and buried below ground in cow horn for 6 months, which, when unearthed has the look of dark humous and is odourless. As this is the first time we have used the preparation we bought it rather than preparing it ourselves.
This work necessitated in advance the collection of rainwater. We then brought the water to the correct temperature and dissolved the preparation while dynamizing the water manually for exactly an hour. It is stirred for one hour making a vortex or crater in one direction and then reversing the direction and making a vortex in the other direction. Through the vortex the maximum amount of water will be exposed to the air and through the air. The repeated stirring opens up a greater surface area of water than a still surface and gives the cosmic forces more opportunity to interact with the water and impart their forces, in other words to dynamize it. This water was then sprinkled by hand throughout the vineyard.
The area treated is relatively small so rather than using a pump we used a whisk brush and small pail to enable large heavy drops to hit the ground revitalising the terrain and its micro-organisms. The cow horn manure is in fact a powerful activator of the life forces in the soil: favouring the activity of microbes and the formation of humous, improving the level of absorption and water retention, regulating the ph balance and stimulating the creation of the root system. The preparation and its distribution is also important regarding the re- appropriation of those ancient bonds that tie us to the land, which, the use of chemicals has forced us to forget.

Spring works in Fico vineyard

Spring has sprung and now dictates the rhythm of our work: we have completed the pruning, replaced any damaged poles and tightened the tension on the wires that guide the growth of the vine. We are now ready to plant new vines where they are missing as they will be warmed and protected by the rising temperatures and the ever increasing length of these spring days.

Winter pruning

It seems that Spring has arrived early this year. This makes each day in the vineyard precious; the mild temperatures allow us to work well and in harmony with all that surrounds us.

We have just completed the winter pruning in the vineyard of Fico, the most favourable days indicated by the bio-dynamic calendar: wise hands see clearly the new buds from where the vines and grapes will grow for the next harvest.