— Chapter III of XIII —

Toscana

A single July day in Chianti. Underground at lunch, with the sleeping vintage. Outside at five-thirty, beneath the modern cathedral that Marchesi Antinori built into the hill. And from above — the long geometry of vines that has been the shape of this land for six hundred years.

Chianti · 3 Photographs
A vaulted stone wine cellar in Chianti, with rows of oak barrels and two large painted botti at the end
No. 01 · Chapter III · Italia

The Sleeping Vintage

A cellar in Chianti · Toscana

Twelve fifty-three in the afternoon. Outside it is July and the light is brutal. Down here it is fifteen degrees cooler, year-round — the wine sleeps in oak, with two painted botti at the end of the tunnel keeping watch like a pair of patient saints. Nobody's voice raises in a barrel cellar. Some places teach you to whisper. — Photographer's Note

"Wine is sunlight, held together by water."

— Galileo Galilei · Tuscan, 1564–1642

12 Jul 2022 · 12:53  ·  Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max  ·  Wide Camera  ·  5.7mm  ·  f/1.5  ·  1/50s  ·  ISO 320

Chianti Classico · Toscana 43.4699° N · 11.3037° E
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The cantilevered roof of the Antinori nel Chianti Classico winery, with vineyards to the left and a circular skylight cut into the ceiling
No. 02 · Chapter III · Italia

Antinori nel Chianti Classico

Bargino · San Casciano in Val di Pesa · Toscana

Five-thirty in the afternoon. The Antinori family has been making wine here since 1385 — twenty-six generations of the same surname pressing the same Sangiovese grape. In 2012 they hired Archea Associati to bury the new headquarters inside the hillside. A roof of terra-cotta panels floats out over the vines; circular skylights cut openings through to the sky; the building never quite decides whether it is architecture or earthwork. It is both. — Photographer's Note

"Il vino è la poesia della terra."
Wine is the poetry of the earth.

— Mario Soldati · Vino al Vino · 1969

12 Jul 2022 · 17:33  ·  Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max  ·  Wide Camera  ·  5.7mm  ·  f/1.5  ·  1/3800s  ·  ISO 50

Antinori nel Chianti Classico · Bargino 43.5993° N · 11.2186° E
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Aerial drone view over Casa Emma winery in Chianti Classico — rows of Sangiovese vines, a stone farmhouse, cypress-topped hills
No. 03 · Chapter III · Italia

The Long Geometry

Above Casa Emma · Chianti Classico · Toscana

Five-fifteen in the afternoon. The drone is at altitude above Casa Emma — a small Chianti Classico estate hidden in the hills near Madonna di Pietracupa. The Etruscans planted vines here a hundred years before Christ; the Franciscans organized them into rows in the thirteenth century; the modern producers settled the geometry by tractor in the twentieth. From this height, you can read all three centuries at once — the patient striping of the rows, the stone farmhouse at the seam, the cypress on the ridge that has been watching everyone work since the war. — Photographer's Note

"Chi pianta una vigna, pianta un'amicizia."
He who plants a vine plants a friendship.

— Tuscan proverb

Tue 12 Jul 2022 · 17:15  ·  Drone · Aerial  ·  Casa Emma · Chianti Classico

Casa Emma · Barberino Tavarnelle · Toscana 43.5283° N · 11.2497° E
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