With Francesco Mazzei as president of the Consorzio Tutela Vini della Maremma Toscana,a new era has begun, determined to broaden the horizons of the young DOC, leveraging the diversity that makes this wine-growing region unique and innovative, ushering in a ‘new Tuscany’ of wine.
“I consider myself Maremmano by adoption and I am thrilled to be able to make a contribution to an area that knows no equal in terms of quality and variety”, remarks the newly-elected President, who adds: “I believe the Maremma’s viticultural potential is as huge as it is exciting and we will do everything possible to promote the wines of our Denomination domestically and internationally”.
Born in Florence in 1959, Mazzei is a successful businessman, Vice President and CEO of Marchesi Mazzei SpA, a company that, for more than six centuries, has been committed to the business of vineyards and vine growing and, among its companies is the Belguardo wine estate in the Maremma Toscana.
A Tuscany of innovative wine, steadily on the rise and with great potential – these are the certainties upon which the new management guided by Mazzei is based. His support team includes Vice Presidents Marco Bruni (Azienda Bruni) and Edoardo Donato (Podere Biologico Carpine) and the other members of the new Board of Directors: Andrea Daldin (Santa Margherita), Alessandro Gallo (Rocca di Montemassi), Benedetto Grechi (Vignaioli del Morellino), Pericle Paciello (Rocca di Frassinello), Fabio Ratto (Le Mortelle) and Massimo Tuccio (Cantina Cooperativa I Vini di Maremma).
The new president’s action plan is based on a strategy that embeds its “pillars” in that vast and varied land that is the Maremma Toscana. A land committed to the cultivation of grape vines and to the production of wine since the time of the Etruscans, dense with history and culture and still imbued with a pristine natural setting that attracts many tourists from around the world in all four seasons. And it is precisely in this extremely complex setting that, thanks to the brilliant work of the local producers – dedicated to the robust quantitative and qualitative growth of their wine products – that other major groups and companies are jumping onto the viticultural train, cognizant of the Maremma as an investment opportunity.
The Consorzio, whose numbers have grown exponentially, currently has 306 member companies, of which 221 are vine growers (for the most part supplying grapes to co-op wineries), 1 bottler and 84 “vertical” companies. It was founded in 2014, after receiving the DOC designation, with the scope of promoting the quality of the area’s wines and ensuring compliance with the production standards set out in the industry’s ‘disciplinare’ regulations. In 2017, the DOC Maremma Toscana bottled 5,700,000 bottles, and that trend is rising steadily, ranking it 4th among the Tuscan DOPs, in terms of area under vines, right behind Chianti, Chianti Classico and Brunello di Montalcino.
In an area where there is a virtual absence of industrial activity, the Denomination can count sustainability as one of its many strengths. Indeed, very few wine-growing areas can boast a natural setting as pristine as the Maremma Toscana. “It is our duty to fully maximize the Maremma’s potential and to raise awareness among an increasingly vast consumer public, of even the most remote parts and its wines, playing up its cultural heritage, its natural setting, tradition of hospitality and all the incredible resources that contribute to its extraordinary beauty”, concludes President Mazzei.
THE DOC MAREMMA TOSCANA
The Maremma Toscana is a vast area that identifies itself primarily with the province of Grosseto. It stretches from the slopes of Mount Amiata to the coast, all the way to the Island of Giglio. Thanks to the climate and abundance of natural sunlight, the grape vines found their ideal habitat in the Maremma, producing the characteristics of ripe fruit, crispness and a pleasant mouth feel that are common to the Maremma wines. Its diversity makes the Maremma the ideal terrain for a great number of grape varieties, a unique feature that places it in a class by itself. Thriving alongside the native varieties – Ciliegiolo, Canaiolo nero, Alicante, Sangiovese, Pugnitello, Aleatico, Vermentino, Trebbiano, Ansonica, Malvasia, and Grechetto – are international varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet franc, Merlot, Syrah, Viognier, Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Petit Verdot.
