Oci Ciornie… do you remember the film starring Marcello Mastroianni and Silvana Mangano?! Many will have seen it again on the occasion of the Roman celebrations for the centenary of the birth of the great actor. A film that made history. But also a wine, which has a history. Soft, warm, rounded, gentle in tannins, with great structure and persistence, Oci Ciornie is a one hundred percent Merlot that comes from the Maremma Toscana. In particular, its production area is located in Tatti, a small medieval village in the Massa Marittima area, in the province of Grosseto. The same as its “brothers”, wines with names clearly inspired by cinema, Dodici, Solo, Colpo di sole, Schiava d'amore, Urga. Yes, because this wine, like the others mentioned, is produced on the Dodici estate, of which today the majority shareholder is Stephan, a 27 year old boy who left Russia 14 years ago, studied at Oxford and then gastronomic sciences in Pollenzo to land 5 years ago in Tatti where his father Konstantin Tuvykin with his friend director Nikita Mikhalkov had given life to the vineyards in 2008 with the collaboration of the oenologist Riccardo Cotarella.
A one hundred percent Merlot obtained with the collaboration first of Cotarella and now of Graziana Grassini, winemaker of the estate that produces Sassicaia
A passion for cinema, a terroir particularly suited to wine and the game was done. Illustrious neighbors, as often happens in these areas of Tuscany, from Antinori to Panerai and Rothschild, just to name a few. A year ago, Graziana Grassini, oenologist of the Tenuta di San Guido that produces Sassicaia, arrived to replace Cotarella. The palate is refined starting with the tasting of Solo, 100% Vermentino (16 euros in the cellar) paired with a platter of Cinta Senese DOP at the table of the Taverna di Campagna in Monte Antico, a magical place in the Maremma where the protagonists are four houses, a small church, and a small school in the shade of the cypress trees of historic Tuscan imprint.
Again the Cinta Senese, a highly prized meat with free-range breeding of the animal that feeds on roots, leaves, selected cereals in Tuscan PDO companies such as that of the young Luca Patrone tasting at the Taverna di Monte Antico, leads to the pairing of Schiava d'amore, a delicate and fresh rosé, winner of the gold medal in Brussels in 2023, 50% Ciliegiolo and Sangiovese. Fresh pasta with Cinta Senese ragù goes well with the rosé, fresh and balanced in contrast with the flavor of the meat. The Cinta Senese, a native pig breed known since the time of the Etruscans and immortalized in the painting of Ambrogio Lorenzetti in the cycle of the Good Government of the Palazzo Comunale in Siena, risked extinction but in the 80s it was rediscovered and raised until obtaining the recognition of PDO meat. Today, the total number of animals raised in Tuscany is around 2600, observes Daniele Baruffaldi, former president of the Consortium of Cinta Senese Dop, who with Luca Patrone affirms the need to publicize and support the Dop supply chain, a particularly valuable artisanal activity. A grilled Cinta is finally paired with two wines: Urga 2017, a blend of 50% Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon (around 30/35 euros the price in the cellar) suitable for the dish, with its bouquet soaked in notes of fruit in alcohol and spices and finally Oci Ciornie, the precious 100% Merlot (50/60 euros in the cellar). Two great wines that close the tasting in the name of the big screen. A tribute to cinema and its great protagonists such as Marcello Mastroianni and Silvana Mangano
The Country Tavern
Via Firenze 10, Monte Antico location Civitella Paganico (Grosseto)
Twelve Estate Loc. Poggio Gobbo 15/A Grilli (Grosseto)
Patrone Agricultural Butcher(, Via della Tecnica 4, Campiglia Marittima /Livorno)
