They are called Punch e Round Leaf and it is the autochthonous vines forgotten until today that Ruedi Gerber, a Swiss film producer with a passion for biodynamics and a passion for Tuscany, planted in land that once belonged to the Marquis Barbaresi Bourbon di Pitrella and practically abandoned like much other land after the land reform.
With a pinch of “lucid madness”, as Paolo Menichetti – property manager – Gerber defines it in a friendly way, he thus realized his life project, and today he divides his time between Zurich and Gavorrano, in Maremma, where the Sequerciani estate, producing Demeter certified biodynamic wines, and Bioagricert certified ancient grains, oil and honey.
In short, if cinema characters could once be seen on the fashionable catwalks of Capri or the Costa Smeralda, today it happens that they cultivate the land in Tuscany and give life to companies of environmental and ethical value as in the case of Gerber.
Sequercians is a young company, founded in 2010, with the first harvest in 2014, made with thirty hectares of land, half of which is planted with vines. Gerber's goal is to produce 50-60 thousand bottles a year.
Rediscovered after a century of oblivion thanks to research by the University of Florence, Leaf Tonda, from the circular name of the leaf, is a vine very similar from an organoleptic point of view to Sangiovese. Before arriving in the glass, in the Sequerciani cellar, Foglia Tonda spends 12 months in Impruneta terracotta amphorae and becomes a drink of Bacchus with a deep red color, elegant and full of character, with hints of spices and Mediterranean scrub suitable to be combined with the classic Tuscan platter, first courses with vegetables and grilled meat. (Foglia Tonda, Igt, 3000 bottles a year, around 19 euros).
Punch, whose name derives from the shape of the bunch, in the shape of a small fist, forgotten for centuries, is well suited to biodynamic cultivation. Harvested by hand, vinified in concrete tanks, it is aged in French oak tonneaux. No added sulphites, no filtration, Pugnitello is an intense red wine, with a complex and spicy nose, which can be combined with traditional Tuscan dishes and is considered the flagship wine of Sequerciani (14 degrees, 30 euros in the wine shop).
Among other small jewels in Ruedi's glass, we also find Libellus, made of Sangiovese and Ciliegiolo, fresh and drinkable to taste with a "parmigiana" or with vegetable dishes au gratin (14 degrees) and theRandom, to be combined with cheeses and honey (18 euros in the wine shop, the 3,75 cl bottle). Do not miss the Vermentino, which calls here Verment'Oro, a refined white, also without added sulphites, which has Tuscan amphorae before being ready for the table where its hints of yellow fruit and medicinal herbs and its sometimes being "petillant" lead it to combinations with vegetable and meat dishes white fish, dishes based on oily fish and with cheeses (15 euros in the wine shop).
In Ruedi Gerber's estate there is also hospitality in houses and villas, oil, ancient grains, flour, pasta and honey. But this is another chapter in the story of our Swiss madly in love with Tuscany.
SS Sequerciani, Agricultural Society
Loc. Sequerciani 58023 Gavorrano (GR)
Phone +39 0566 028053/ +36 340 2637849
www.sequerciani. en
