The Fronti family has been working with the land, the grapes and the harvest for many decades. They’d already been growing grapes for big-name estates and had olive orchards; thus, they knew exactly which hillsides were worth investing in. The fruit of their labour is the Istine vineyard, which the family purchased in 1982 and also provides the name of the estate. Despite the good qualities, they never bottled their own wines – until 2009, they sold their wine as bulk wine to larger estates. Having graduated as a winemaker, Angela returned home around this time. The organic cultivation, the style and the recognition of the wines can all be linked to her.

We tasted the 2020 single-vineyard wines on the estate long before they were put on the market, still freshly bottled. It was an outstanding year, a problem-free vintage that gave light-coloured, juicy and pure wines. “All work was done at a good pace, in the best rhythm,” says Angela Fronti. Of the three wines from the vineyard, we liked Casanova dell'Aia the most, even when it was fresh. The 4.5-hectare south-facing parcel is close to the town of Radda, its soil is a mixture of clay and two local limestones (alberese and galestro).

100% Sangiovese, organic cultivation, spontaneous fermentation in concrete vats, then ageing for a year in 20-30-hectolitre Slavonic barrels.