The grapes to produce the Toscana Rosso IGT “Petra” Petra were harvested in the coolest hours of the day. After three days of cold-soaking, fermentation took place with malolactic fermentation allowed. The wine was then aged in French oak barrels, 25% of which were new, for 18 months. The wine continued to age for a further 18 months in bottle before release.
The soil at Petra, a cru vineyard, is perfectly suited to growing Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. The Merlot is elegant and supple, grown on the cooler, hillside sites. Meanwhile, the Cabernet is grown on the well-hydrated, less fertile, flatter land. Soils are calcareous with a good balance of clay and rocky backbone.
Petra, created by the Moretti family of Bellavista, is a 300 hectare estate is situated in Suvereto in the Val di Cornia. When Vittorio Moretti and his daughter Francesca set out in search of a property in the Maremma in 1997, they asked Attilio Scienza, Italy’s most celebrated viticultural professor and consultant, to help them find the best spot. Scienza came up with Petra (the name is derived from the Latin for stone, or ‘pietra’ in Italian), which is to the southeast of Bolgheri and inland from, although facing, the sea. The estate now has 94 hectares of vineyard across three separate plots, which surround a splendid modernist winery built by the Swiss architect Mario Botta. Newly appointed winemaker Augusto Graziano and consultant winemaker Giuseppe Caviola work to ensure that the quality of fruit arriving in the winery is captured in the finished wines. In the vineyard, they are in the process of organic conversion, while the gravity-fed winery has been designed to ensure as gentle a treatment of the grapes, must and wine as possible.
