Fontodi Tuscan Wine Tasting with Special Guest Owner Giovanni Manetti

If reassurances could dull pain, nobody would ever go to the trouble of pressing grapes.

SCOTT LYNCH, The Lies of Locke Lamora

The Manetti family has owned Fontodi since 1969 but has been in Chianti for centuries. Though they have always made wine, their primary business is still the production of Chiantii´s finest terracotta at their factory in Ferrone. Giovanni Manetti has run the property since 1980 and ensures the wines are as meticulously made as the vineyards are immaculately tended. Their 80 hectares of vineyard, 90% of which are Sangiovese, are situated in the prime i´concadi´oroi´ (golden shell) of Panzano, and over the past decade these have been converted to organic viticulture. Giovanni is now following biodynamic principles to obtain the best quality fruit. There are 80 hectares of south facing vineyards, all of which are found in an amphitheatre-shaped valley to the south of Panzano. This shape facilitates the full ripening of the grapes. The stony galestro soils allow for excellent drainage and encourage the vines to put down deep roots.

Fontodi has been one of our favorite wineries in Tuscany since before I bought the store in 1998, these wines were on the wine list at Café Maxx when I was the sommelier there from 1990-1996 and we have hosted dozens of events with the wines of Fontodi over the years.  So, when I heard the owner of Fontodi Giovanni Manetti was in town I jumped at the chance to host him at the wine bar.  I have known Giovanni for years and although we have hosted several events through the years together this is the first time he will be at the wine bar, it will be a VERY special night I assure you!!  Don’t wait to make your reservation for this event it will surely sell out!!

The fee for this tasting which includes dinner is $275 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.  Please let us know when you make youre reservations if you have any dietary restrictions and chefs Toni and Dani will be happy to accommodate you.

FONTODI TUSCAN WINE TASTING

With Special Guest Owner Giovanni Manetti

Thursday, November 13, 2025 

7:30 PM

2022 Fontodi Meriggio Colli Toscana Centrale IGT, Tuscany

2018 Fontodi Pinot Nero Case Via Tuscany

2021 Fontodi Filetta Di Lamole Chianti Classico

2022 Fontodi Chianti Classico

2016 Fontodi Dino Amphora

2015 Fontodi Flaccianello Della Pieve Tuscany

2007 Fontodi Flaccianello Della Pieve Tuscany

1998 Fontodi Vigna del Sorbo, Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG, Italy

2018 Fontodi Syrah Case Vie Tuscany

2012 Fontodi Vin Santo 375ml

 Menu

Selection of Cheese and Charcuterie

Mushroom Carpaccio with Heirloom Tomato Tartar, Fontodi Olive Oil and Sage Aioli

Beef Tartar served over Bone Marrow Canoe

Braised Lamb Shank served with Sangiovese Reduction and Shoestring Fries

Almond Biscotti with Limoncello Whipped Creme

The Fee for this tasting is $275 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.  Please let us know when you make your reservations if you have any dietary restrictions or allergies and chefs Toni and Dani will be happy to accommodate you.

A bit about Fontodi:

In the beginning there were Fontodi bricks and tiles.  The work comes from fonte di odo, which means a place rich with water.  Brunelleschi’s Florentine cupola was restored with Fontodi tiles.  Ancient and modern day Florentine homes use Fontodi tiles for decoration and for their natural warmth.  The same family made the bricks that pave the Uffizi Galley in Florence.  This family with the same hand and the same will has also been involved with the wine but for a shorter time.  It was Maria, the mother, who took an active part in the winery.  She first got the family interested in wine   They purchased the winery in 1968, and by 1980 the had moved there from Panzano.  It is a difficult land to farm but it yields some of the finest stone and clay for bricks, and tiles, but the finest oils and the most noble wines.

Today, Fontodi is one of the leaders in Chianti, their wines have consistently impressed the critics; from the Gambero Rosso (the Italian wine bible), Robert Parker of The Wine Advocate (the American authority on wine), to The Wine Spectator (the most popular international wine/lifestyle publication), all of these publications have waxed poetic about the wines from this estate.  The estate of Fontodi is on a hill just south of Panzano, from where you can look across the valley towards Rampolla and Cafaqqio.  The gardens are full of Rosemary and in May the cuckoos are noisy.  Since the Manetti family has owned the estate they have undertaken a major renovations of the vineyards.  The young and talented owner, Giovanni Manetti, is one of the most far-sighted and intellectual grower-producers in all of Italy.  His estate is enchanting, not only because of the villa where it is based is spectacularly beautiful, but also because Manetti has consistently made quality the first priority in all areas of the business, from rootstock, to trellising, to hiring the brightest mind in winemaking in all of Italy, Franco Bernabei.  Franco has won more "Glasses" in Gambero Rosso than anyone in the history of the guide.  Manetti’s greatest attribute is his common sense and his commanding personality which makes others stand up and listen. 

The winery focuses its efforts on seven wines.  Two Chianti’s, a Classico and a single vineyard wine called Vigna Del Sorbo.  The Chianti Classico is 100% sangiovese and is the product of traditional winemaking.  The wine is aged for six months in oak barrels, it completes its refinement in the bottle.  It is a graceful, balanced, elegant, and stylish wine, but still easily to enjoy in its youth.  The Vigna Del Sorbo Chianti Classico Riserva is a blend of Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon blended according to traditional methods and matured in small oak casks. 

The flagship wine Flaccianello Della Piave, a 100% Sangiovese based wine which until the 2004 vintage this wine was made from a single vineyard surrounding the age-old parish church in Panzano, but from 2005 on it has become a selection of the best Sangivoese from the entire property.  This wine is made with carefully controlled fermentation and strict temperature control during the initial stages.  It is big and powerful wine yet retains a ripe, soft, seductive character. 

The only white produced here is named Meriggio, it is 100% sauvignon blanc grapes vinified in stainless steel tanks, temperature-controlled and matured on lees for 6 months.  This is the first time this wine has been exported to the U.S. and we are proud to be the exclusive retailer of this wine in South Florida!

Two of the smallest production wines with the Fontodi moniker are the Syrah and Pinot Nero cuvées bottled under the Case Via label. The Pinot Noir reflects the influences on Giovanni's wine education, having grown up at a time when Chianti was a much derided region, and he looked abroad to Burgundy, among other regions, for inspiration. The Pinot Noir vines were planted in 1985, as were the Syrah vines, during a period of youthful experimentation for Manetti.  The Syrah is one of the best examples of this varietal made in Italy and can rival the Flaccianello in quality in great vintages.

Fontodi also makes a Vinsanto, an Italian dessert wine, this is a blend of malvasia and sangiovese grapes which are naturally air dried on straw mats until December.  After a soft pressing the wine is aged for four years in four different kinds of wood (oak, chestnut, cherry and juniper) in cask that vary also in age and capacity.  This wine has a yellow-golden color and a delicate fragrance of honey and hazelnuts.  On the palate it is dry, warm, fragrant but suitably soft.