Gianfranco Soldera awoke to terrible news the morning of December 3rd, 2012. His step-son was in the winery early that day and found Gianfranco still in the kitchen having breakfast. “‘It’s all gone. There is no more wine, no more wine.’ his step-son said.
Gianfranco didn’t think it was possibly true, and he went to the winery. From the outside he could smell the truth.
A former employee had snuck in the night before and opened the spout on 10 botti (Huge oak cask), draining over $25 million in wine from the 2007-2012 vintages.
The wine world was shocked to hear the news and still consider this one of the largest tragedies from a small producer.
Gianfranco told his daughter, “It is over, Monica. We have to go on. It is over. We have to go on.”
The 76-year old winemaker did go on, as not everything was lost that day. The 2006 vintage was already in bottle and about a quarter of the remaining wine was saved, in various amounts per vintage.
Tenzing has distributed the wines of Soldera through another importer in the past and is now happy to announce the exclusive import of the 2008 vintage in Illinois.
Given the very limited availability of the 2007 vintage (just over 2000 bottles), the winery decided to present the two vintages 2007 and 2008 together. We were only able to secure a small allocation of the 2008 vintage, sold in 3-packs. The wines are set to arrive at the end of October and offers will be sent out,
After the 2012 attack, Gianfranco withdrew as member of the Consorzio di Brunello di Montalcino. Moving forward he is releasing his wines under the IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) designation.
The red wines display unique expression of terroir, made only from Sangiovese grapes from their own vineyards, fermented naturally with native yeasts and without pressing or filtering or the addition of additives, except sulfites.
Case Basse is an estate in the southwest area of Montalcino, where Sangiovese Grosso vines are grown to produce the famous Brunello. It is over 23 hectares in size, and is in an excellent geographical position for wine growing
Case Basse di Soldera is unique:
due to the hilly land of Eocene origin,
due to the altitude: 320 meters,
due to the exposure: southwest,
due to the dry, sunny climate with no fog,
due to the limpid light.
Origins
In the 1970’s, the place had been abandoned by share croppers for some time, and the soil was uncultivated, but even in this condition, it was a beautiful land in exceptionally charming surroundings.
Gianfranco and Graziella Soldera discovered the enchantment of Case Basse, they immediately decided to devote themselves to that land, utilizing enlightened agriculture to create a Brunello of the highest quality.
Winemaking:
Only grapes from the Case Basse Estate are used to make their wines. Natural fermentation is carried out in Slavonian oak vats. There is no temperature control and no artificial yeasts are added. Pumping over and frequent tastings are done. The University of Florence performs regular controls, also microbiological ones.
Soldera can rest for up to five years in large Slavonian oak casks, away from noise, temperature changes and odors in the new cellar, which was purpose-built to ensure optimum ageing conditions, as illustrated in the “Talking Soldera” section of our website which we invite you to visit. Brunello Soldera is matured in the bottle for some months.
In certain vintages, Gianfranco Soldera produced “Intistieti” and "Pegasos" IGT wines from his Sangiovese grapes. For these wines the period of ageing in cask has been shorter than for Brunello.
Bottling
The wine is not filtered either during bottling or at any other time. The beautiful 750 ml Bordeaux bottles have structural features, such as a wider shoulder than base, a deep cavity, and a high neck, that are designed for optimal wine conservation. Their very dark color has a protective function. The especially high quality corks, 26/50 mm in size, are a guarantee of quality.
