Palafreno

“Ecstatic enlightenment”

Luigi Veronelli

Ex Vinis

February 2003

“The wine is deep yet silky, fruit driven yet with the perfect
touch of toasty oak, enhancing rather than overwhelming.
A thoroughly modern, top-flight wine, at a reasonable price.”

Nicolas Belfrage, MW

December 2002

“Palafreno, although just a newborn, is already a giant”

Civiltà del Bere

February 2003

Palafreno, whose first vintage was the glorious 2000,

is a monovarietal Merlot, carefully crafted from the

fruit of some among the best vineyards of the estate

in Greve in Chianti. Rich, deep, and elegant, needs

to be decanted, and left ‘breathing’ for about half an

hour to be enjoyed at its best. Its name is an ancient

Italian word designating a noble riding horse used by

medieval knights for travel, parades or tournaments.

Cépages: 100% Merlot.

Average production: 12,000 bottles (1,000 cases).

Appellation: Toscana IGT.

First vintage: 2000.

Average yield: 30 hl/ha.

Average alcohol content: 14.0% vol.

Ideal serving temperature: 18° C (64° F)

The grapes are carefully selected in the vineyards,

and harvested in 8 kilo crates. They are destemmed,

they are not crushed, and then they are conveyed

into temperature controlled stainless steel vats or,

just for the very best parcels, small temperature

controlled concrete vats. Here, alcoholic fermentation,

maceration and malolactic fermentation take place.

Maceration lasts about 18 days.

Afterwards, the wine is transferred to barriques.

where it undergoes élevage for about one year.

At this stage, the best lots, selected through extensive

tasting, are assembled into the final blend, and they

undergo six more months of élevage.

The oak is 100% French, and comes from Allier,

Tronçais, and Vosges. It is 60% new and 40% one

year old. The wine is regularly racked and tasted

during the whole barrel maturation. After bottling

the wine rests for about six months before release.

The wine is released no sooner than 26 months

after harvest. Depending on the vintage, it reaches

maturity between 3 and 5 years after harvest. The

plateau lasts until at least 12 years after harvest.

Palafreno is bottled and packaged exclusively in

the following formats: 0.750 liter [6 bottle cardboard

case]; 1.5 liter [1 or 6 bottle wooden case]; 3 liter

[1 bottle wooden case]; only in oustanding vintages,

twelve 6 liter bottles [1 bottle case] are made.

2004 Palafreno will be released during Fall 2007.

Querciabella, the Querciabella logo, Batàr, Camartina, Mongrana and Palafreno

are registered trademarks of Agricola Querciabella SpA.