Istine Rosato 2024

Profile & Story

Istine is the Fronti family estate at Radda in Chianti, farming here since 1959 and, after decades of selling fruit in bulk, bottling its first wine in 2009. Angela Fronti runs roughly 20 hectares across parcels at Istine, Casanova and Cavarchione, certified organic since 2016. The Rosato d'Istine is 100% Sangiovese, most of it from the Cavarchione vineyard planted 2009-2010 at Gaiole in Chianti, 420 m above sea level on stony marly limestone with a prevalence of galestro. Grapes are picked by hand before full ripeness, to give lower sugar and higher acidity, macerated on the skins for under six hours, fermented in stainless steel at a maximum of 16 C with no malolactic, and matured in steel. Around 10,000 bottles are made; the first vintage was 2012. It is bottled in clear Burgundy-type glass under screw cap, which the estate says lets it use less sulphite, keeps the wine fresher for longer and avoids corked bottles.