Il
Macchione
Abandoning his work as a dentist in
Zurich, Robert Kengelbacher followed his heart to the vineyards
of California, where he would spend four months traveling
and drinking in everything he saw. It was here that he found
his creed of taking only the best from everything, an ideal
that he then backed with a practical education in Waedenswil,
Switzerland. Eager to apply what he had learned to Italian
soil, Kengelbacher apprenticed himself to Franco Bernabei
(at Castello di Fonterutoli in Chianti Classico) for a few
months; and finally he found a small estate he could make
his own, Il Macchione in Montepulciano. His four hectares
of vineyards sit in the subzone of Le Caggiole, at an altitude
of 400 meters that combines with the mildly argillous soil
(compared to the Montepulciano appellation as a whole) to
offer a more elegantly perfumed, harmonious Vino Nobile
that nevertheless holds its own as a serious, full-bodied
wine with good structure.
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