Passion brings love

I believe that I was chosen by this land, and ever since I came to San Cristoforo my life has been filled with many small blessings.

All of us who work at San Cristoforo feel rewarded the nature here, we now that in exchange for our love and attention we shall receive sweeter fruits. All of believe in respecting this land, striving to maintain its health as it was entrusted to us, to care for it, and work to help its development.

The undertaking of this adventure has been exhausting at times, but has given us great satisfaction and a greater trust in ourselves. We know that most responsibility for success rests primarily on the vines, but we can be proud that our fierce devotion, our hard work with few means and few resources, and our dedication to maintaining equilibriums and respect for timing, has been instrumental in bringing forth the best from this land.

If we have the courage to follow our hearts, the quality of our lives can enormously improve, we free ourselves from anxieties and tensions that are the inevitable result of internal conflict. Sometimes all it takes is to have trust, have patience, enjoy accomplishing some small goals, trying to live more deeply in every moment, excepting that we are temporary tools, servants and artists of the land.
Those who works under an open sky, learn that nothing comes from rejecting the situation, there can be no “if only’s” or “I wish’s” when working the land. One must renounce fantasies and work with the realities… too little rain, too much rain. But rejecting fantasy does not mean rejecting dreams. Just as the vine must yield to the vintner’s scissors, it adjusts itself to reality, renouncing the natural urge toward longer shoots and focusing energy toward the berries, and so produces the best fruits.

Let us share our latest good news. Podere San Cristoforo was invited to present its wines at the very heart worldwide winemaking excellence. The prestigious: Bordeaux en primeurs.

The event is a whole series of tastings, masterfully organized inside luxurious château or, as in our case, in the wine cellars of inspired producers. The wines are those of the most recent vintage, the 2011, taken directly from the barriques or from the tanks without any clearing of filtration.

We were guests of Jean-Luc Thunevin, who was the first to challenge, with a wine done at home, the noblest Bordeaux château. He produced his first wine, hand destemming the grapes in his garage, demonstrating extreme attention to details, with the help of Château Ausune’s winemaker he would end up making headline news. His wines were a revelation for the critics. Rober Parker described Jean-Luc’s sort of irreverence, defining him as «the bad boy», or rather the Saint-Emilion’s black sheep.

A tasting is well done when nothing in the room can alter the characteristics of the wine and everything facilitates as much as possible the analysis. Therefore the principal characteristics are: a clean and odourless glass, a pleasant and calm situation and finally precise information about the wine.
In Bordeaux these simple rules were respected, and the public, with great surprise, was enthusiastic of our wines. Such an interesting public, composed of journalists, producers and wine merchant coming from every corner of the planet, all extremely capable tasters, all true wine lovers. To crown this experience our en primeur wine’s scores graded by José Penin author of the homonym wine guide.

«Bordeuaux 2011 is a preview» – Jean-Luc Thunevin tasting in Saint Emilion, 2-5 April 2012.
Every year at this time Bordeaux fills up with retailers, importers, journalists and wine lovers. They come to try the newest vintage, in this case the 2011, to feel its pulse. This tireless taster travelled from Medoc to Libournais for the usual papillary exercise. […] Italian wines where also shown among Jean-Luc Thunevin’s favorites. […] Following through the Italians, Lorenzo Zonin started his personal adventure in the Tuscan Maremma with the winery Podere San Cristoforo. He developed a Sangiovese, Amaranto 2011 (93 points) rich in fruity expression, very aromatic, he also showed a Petit Verdot (92 points) free of the strong rusticity that often characterizes this grape. [Written by José Peñín – April 8th, 2012]

At the following link we tell you about the 2011 vintage at Podere San Cristoforo.

To your health! Always… Lorenzo

www.poderesancristoforo.it