Pomino Terroir: not only Chianti... In Chianti!   Pomino is a very small town (bit more than 2 hundred souls) belonging to the "comune" (municipality) of Rufina, in the Florence Provincia (literally "province", but it defines somethin more like a "county").   Over high hills the Pomino area is a great terroir for wine production (great weather, the right mix of sand and clay of the soils), and that is no news: in 1716 Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, issued a decree which established Pomino as an area for the production of high - quality wines in Tuscany.   The area was under control of the florentine family Albizzi. The last male heir of the Albizzi house, Vittorio di Alessandro Piero degli Albizzi lived in France for a while and, back to Tuscany, he brought back with him to Pomino the  Chardonnay, Cabernet and Merlot. Vittorio started to work with the "new" vines along his in-laws of the Frescobaldi family. When Vittorio died in 1877 the Frescobaldi House, via Leonia, Vittorio's sister, inherited the Albizzi's lands and, with them, the vineyards.   So a great wine makers tradition (The Frescobaldi family makes wine since the Middle Age...) added another string to its bow. In the 70's of the XX Century the Pomino area became a DOC one (Denominazione di origine controllata, "Controlled designation of origin"). The Castel Pomino Frescobaldi's wine gained their own DOC status in 1983. The Frescobaldis own almost the whole Pomino DOC area with nine estates and more than 2470 acres of vineyards.   Along the DOC protocol the grapes must be harvested with a no greater than 10.5 tonnes/hectare rate. The DOC red wine and Vin Santo Rosso (Holy - sweet - red wine) is a blend of 60-75% Sangiovese, 15-25% of Canaiolo, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet franc, 10-20% Merlot and up to 15% of other local red grape varieties. The finished wine must have a minimum alcohol level of at least 12% (12.5% for the Riserva - Reserve) and have spent a three years (at least 1 year and half in wood) aging prior to release. Pomino Bianco: the smallest Tuscan DOC white wine: Chardonnay and Pinot Bianco.Pomino Benefizio Riserva: the first Italian white wine fermented in barriques (since 1973), mono-varietal Chardonnay.Pomino Pinot Nero: the only Tuscan DOC Pinot Nero. Pomino Vinsanto: the sweet, "holy" Pomino.