Tenuta La Massa releases ‘spectacular’ single-vineyard monocépage Merlot

In a context of global climate change one might be forgiven for worrying about the future of Merlot in Italy. Yet, time and again, I am reminded that the best of super-Tuscany terroirs continue to produce some of the world’s greatest Merlots.

When I dream of Merlot, I don’t just dream of Petrus and Le Pin, but of Masseto, Galatrona, Sette and, since June, when I visited the property, something entirely new – Asiram from Tenuta La Massa.

As Giampaolo Motta, La Massa’s infectiously enthusiastic founder, explained, Asiram “was created in 2019 as a tribute to both Merlot and to my mother”. It was released to the world last week.

Signora Marisa, whose name—read from right to left (A-S-I-R-A-M) – lived on in this unique and fabulous moncépage single-plot Merlot and played a crucial role in the birth of Tenuta La Massa 30 years ago. Shortly after her death, while strolling in the vineyard, “the idea came to me of celebrating her memory through a wine,” Giampaolo recalls, with evident emotion.

As in Pomerol and Saint-Émilion, Merlot is a varietal that has always been loved by those who grow it in Tuscany and it has the habit, on both sides of the Alps, of becoming almost something of a winemaker’s obsession. That is very much the story here.

The Merlot for Asiram is sourced from La Massa’s hillside vineyard parcel no. 4 – a parcel of just 8000 square metres (around half a hectare) of distinctive blue clay, very deep and rich in calcareous schist. Here the Merlot, planted in 1999, sinks its roots into soils that were made unique by the shifting of different layers over geological eras, allowing the roots to extract their very distinctive character and eloquent minerality.

As we walk through the vineyard, Motta notes that the Merlot of parcel no. 4 “has always been the most complex and comprehensive” in the estate.

“It has always intrigued me with its uniqueness, with its ability to blend together the characteristics of Merlot grown in clay and that grown in limestone,” he said. “That is why, right from the beginning, we vinified it separately, just as if the vineyard itself showed us the path we should take”.

For Motta, making a wine is about interpreting a place and giving it its own voice. But it is not just that.

“It is also my voice too, as its creator, but also the voices of important people in my life, like Giorgio Primo, dedicated to my grandfather and to my son, and Carla 6 to my daughter. By naming this wine after my mother, I see her personality and power, but also that of our mother par excellence: Mother Nature.”

There is no doubt that Asiram 2019 is a brilliantly authentic expression of the singular soils of Conca d’Oro di Panzano in Chianti. Its vinification requires an obsessively strict quality selection of the fruit upon its arrival in the wine cellar, then a pre-maceration for 7 days at 7°C. A relatively warm fermentation follows, with an incredibly gentle extraction, to maximise both the volume and terroir signature of the wine. The wine then matures on its lees in 50% new oak barrels for 7-8 months, with regular bâttonage, before a further 18-20 months of additional ageing, first in concrete and then in bottle.

Asiram 2019, the first vintage, was produced in a limited-edition of 1,800 bottles. It was released on the 4 November and is available on allocation directly from the property.

Asiram (La Massa) 2019 (Toscana IGT; 100% Merlot from the 0.5 hectares of vineyard plot number 4 on blue clay and calcareous schist; on direct allocation from the property; tasted twice, first with Motta at the property in June and then in October from a sample sent to Paris). I am the first person from outside of the vineyard to taste this. When I dream of Merlot from now on, I will dream not just of Petrus, Le Pin, Masseto and Galatrona, but of Asiram too. Black truffle (from Perigord). Black cherry. Violet and a hint of lavender. Rose petal. Saffron. That bulbous florality that is, to me, so redolent of La Massa. This is fabulous. So soft and ample and gently caressing. So Italian in its warmth and opulence. A wondrous addition to La Massa’s range. Generous and comfortable, elegant and refined, a little held-back at first in this still nascent stage but utterly divine already. Gorgeous texturally and wonderfully poised and tense. An ample frame and a plunge-pool core, but dense and concentrated and yet with lovely ripples of freshness welling up from below and swirling in the mid-palate like little whirlpools. There’s a brilliant sapidity and a lovely grip and plume on the finish, with a little menthol lift and a touch of aged balsamic. A wine made with great love that expresses so eloquently the great love that inspires it. 99.