La Mercarrecia
More than good wines, a great meeting with a Tuscan lifestyle lover…
La Mercareccia is a family owned vineyard located in the heart of Tuscany, on the Tyrrhenian coast. This area, due to its location benefits from a strong marine influence, a great sunshine as well as an great luminosity.
Owned by Fabrizio Zanfi this vineyard extends over five hectares (three vineyards and two olive trees) that he manages with organic farming. In this soil rich in yellow sandstone, limestone and fossil Fabrizio produces 4 red wines from three great grape varieties: Syrah, Ciliegiolo and Sangiovese. Its leitmotiv? Produce natural wines that reflect their land, their region and that will seduce the wine lover as well as the neophyte.
Meeting with Fabrizio Zanfi :
Making wine has always been my dream.I remember when I was a little boy aged only 7/8 years old I watched, eyes full of admiration, my father carrying the crates of grapes harvested a little earlier … Today still at 92 years old, he continues proudly to work in the vineyard by helping me choose olives, grapes during the harvest …
I love my job, I do it with joy and good humor! I also like to work in the vineyard, to do the harvesting and work in the cellar. I do not want to make homogenized wines. I want to make wines that resemble their terroir, the place where they were born but also which reflects the vintage!
V.d.V.: Why did you choose to become a winemaker ? F.Z. : Life has brought me to the coast of Tuscany, I could say ‘it was written in the charts’. I have been a farmer’s son and moved to town very young, lived a citizen’s life, but always dreamed of a return to country life, then I had a chance or more like the opportunity chose me, completely.
V.d.V.: Where does the name of the property come from?
F.Z. : « La Mercareccia » in Tuscan dialect means « a place to brand the cows with fire ».There are few paitings from Fattori, a leading Italian Macchiaiolo (painters related to French Impressionists), describing the life and the moment of marking the animals in a Tuscan farm in the turn of last century.
The name « La Mercareccia » is already present in a map of 1798 of the area. At this time there were already some vines married to olive trees.
V.d.V.: What is the signature of the wines of La Mercareccia?
F.Z. : In general, La Mercareccia produces straight wines, «oceanic» (that is to say marked by strong wind, iodine) and racy. They offer notes of fruit with good ripeness (ripe fruits but fresh), greediness, fleshy and a very nice persistence, greedy / sweet on the palate.The tannins are thin and very slightly firm / straight.