Cordella is an organic winery in Torrenieri in the north-eastern part of the Montalcino region. The estate, called Podere Meleto, is located down a track which begins just above Torrenieri’s cemetery.
Owner: Maddalena Cordella. Married to Aldo who runs the winery’s restaurant.
Background: Established in 1998 when Maddalena’s father, Orlando Cordella, transferred her part of the family estate [Podere Meleto I think]. Grapes had been grown on the estate’s vineyards since 1998 but had been sold. In 2006 Maddalena, together with her father, produced their first estate grown and bottled wines.
Staff: Oenologist Paolo Vagaggini. And/or Paolo Caciorgna.
Vineyard: On a visit to the winery 27th May 2015 I was told they had 120 hectares of land in total of which 5 hectares were olives, 100 hectares were sowable crops (‘seminativo‘) such as broad beans (Vicia faba) or ‘favino’ for forage, white or Egyptian or white clover (Trifolium alexandrinum), and spelt (‘farro‘), and 11 hectares of vines (100% Sangiovese). Of this 8 hectares are Brunello di Montalcino DOCG, 1 hectare is Rosso di Montalcino DOC and 1 hectare is IGT with a further 3 hectares coming on stream. The main rootstocks are 420A and 3309C.
Organic certification: 2012 First vintage with full organic certification.
Winery: Built in 2010, into the hill and on a slope. Grapes go over a grill first to get rid of leaves, dust and so on. Destemmed. Screw pump to stainless steel tanks for fermentation. Pressed in a Miros pneumatic press. The wines age in large wooden vats. Air-con. Own bottling line.
Pink wines
Toscana Rosato: 2014 Lotto 03/2010. Wet season. OK, bit blurred and sulfury, with some greenness too at Viale Piave 6 a few days after I visited Cordella on 27 May 2015.
Red wines
Rosso di Montalcino DOC: Usually 20-30,000 bottles. | 2013 30,000 bottles. Nice colour, bright simple red fruit but well done (Benvenuto Brunello 2015). | 2014 Plump jelly at Benvenuto Brunello Feb 2016.
Brunello di Montalcino DOCG: Usually 50,000 bottles. | 2009 15%. Mid-crimson/garnet core and a watery rim. Nose dominated by blackcurrant fruit and herbaceous notes. Green tannin and fruit on the palate. Bit simple and boiled sweet-like at the Consorzio Tuesday 27th May 2014 with Ian d’Agata and others. Lotto 01/13 Sample given to me by Maddalena when I visited in 2015: simple fruit with modern oak, soft, appealing and round with enough weight without being ephemeral or extracted in Viale Piave 32 in early September 2015. | 2010 50,000 bottles. Soft, simple and plump (Benvenuto Brunello 2015). | 2011 Fruity and clear, very direct (Benvenuto Brunello 2016). | 2014 Signs of evolution on the nose, savoury, not too over extracted, give it a 3-6 years to settle and drink up (Benvenuto Brunello 2019).
Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Riserva | 2010 Sweet and ripe (Benvenuto Brunello 2016).
Agritourism
The ground floor of Podere Meleto is the headquarters of the estate while on the first floor there is the Agrirelais Fattoria al Meleto.
Contact
Azienda Agricola di Maddalena Cordella
Podere Meleto, 27
53024 Torrenieri (SI), Italy
Tel+39 0577.834221 |
Website: www.cordellavini.it | www.cordella.wine