90 Act III / Poggio al Tesoro, the Men and the Women 91 Act III / Poggio al Tesoro, the Men and the Women has remained in the Valpolicella near Verona), the creation of a working staff of significant professional level, trustworthy and competent, was indispensable. «The first stroke of fortune – recalls Marilisa Allegrini – was our encounter with a person such as Stefano Bartolomei, a professional agronomist with a thorough knowledge of the Tuscan territory, particularly the Maremma. It was Stefano, at the very beginning, who helped Walter in singling out the most interesting future vineyard parcels among those which were offered to us, a demanding and delicate job in so far as - as Walter continually repeated - it was a matter of literally “going shopping” in order to put together the plots of tens of smallholders, assembling a magnificent collection from a series of single, precious jewels. Stefano’s role, however, was a fundamental one not only in the choice of vineyard land, but also for his invaluable suggestions of which varieties to plant and, for each single grape variety, the most suitable clones to select, something of primary importance in an environmental context such as that of Bolgheri. We owe to Stefano the suggestion to stake our bets on Cabernet Franc, a grape which, when fermented and aged on its own as it is for our top of the line wine, Dedicato a Walter, soon demonstrated its special affinity and adaptation to the territory of Bolgheri, where it attains peaks of elegance unobtainable elsewhere; it was his, as well, the hint to leave a few acres for Vermentino white grapes, another insight which proved to be right on target. «Once we had acquired the vineyard land– continues Marilisa – the next step was to select the staff to work on the estate we had acquired. In this case as well, there was a combination of good judgment and good luck which, after a few years of working together, not always in total harmony, has assisted us in putting together an excellent working team which revolves around three key figures: Marrico Toni, the director of the estate, Nicola “... Soon demonstrated its special affinity and adaptation to the territory of Bolgheri ...” “... onfirmed our conviction that there was an uncommon quality potential to be developed ...” Above: Stefano Bartolomei
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