by Michèle Shah
Top Italian designer Roberto Cavalli has expanded his empire from fashion to wine. At a launch worthy of the fashion industry, Cavalli introduced his new ‘maison’ super Tuscan IGT wine.
Ten years in the making, the wine is the brainchild of Cavalli’s son Tommaso Cavalli, a horse trotter breeder by profession and owner of a 70 hectare estate, Tenuta degli Dei, on the south facing slopes of Panzano in Chianti Classico.
"Although horses remain my true love, I am now totally and passionately involved with the wine project,” said Tommaso Cavalli.
Cavalli uses winemaker consultant Carlo Ferrini and his team in tending to the vineyards which are equally divided between the 3.5 hectares planted in Panzano and the 3.5 hectares planted in the hills above Florence, around Roberto Cavalli’s private home.
The two labels, Cavalli Selection and Cavalli Collection, are a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Alicante.
"This is in standing with Cavalli’s philosophy,” said Tommaso "We are not looking to make an ‘international’ style wine, but one that reflects the potential of the two terroirs from where the grapes are grown.”
There is no difference between the two wines with the exception of the price and packaging , which echoes the zebra, butterfly and leopard skin fabrics used in Cavalli’s past collections. The Cavalli collection comes in glitzy packaging made up of a bottle embossed in gold with Cavalli’s stem, two black wine goblets with the golden stem and a corkscrew entwined with a ‘sparkling’ gold and glitter snake, all packaged in a leather box lined with a silk leopard skin lining at the cost of €350.
The wine is vinified in the Pieve di San Leolino, a IX church overlooking Panzano. The initial 5,000 bottles of vintage 2004 will in part make their debut on the Italian market with 2,500 bottles being distributed in Tuscany alone to top restauration and wine bars/shops, sold ex-cellar at a cost of €27/bottle. The remaining 2,500 bottles will form the haute couture Cavalli Collection annual vintage release, which will remain at a stable 2,500/bottles per vintage . According to Tommaso Cavalli most of the 2004 Cavalli Collection has been pre-sold to the Russian market.
Carlo Ferrini is currently trying to convince Tommaso Cavalli to reduce his horse paddocks and plant a further 3.5 hectares of vines at Tenuta degli Dei.
