Vertical Tasting: Galatrona, the serendipitous sensation

Luca Sanjust standing in front of the medieval watchtower of Galatrona.

Lucia Sanjust will be deeply missed.

Lucia Sanjust, whose family owns Petrolo, died over the weekend. She was an inspiration and role model to Luca Sanjust, having been the one to convince him to enter the wine world. 

Luca would go on to create one of Italy’s most successful brands, the pure merlot wonder Galatrona. In fact, it was Lucia who first planted the merlot at the estate back in the ‘90s, originally intending to blend the grapes into Torrione. She will be sorely missed.

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These days, you’ll probably find Luca Sanjust on the road somewhere, promoting his wines or giving a seminar as one of Italy’s top producers. But it wasn’t too long ago that his creations were more likely to be hanging in an art gallery than being poured at a wine fair.

By the ‘80s, Sanjust was considered a promising new face in the Italian art scene. Living in Rome, the artist was drawing praise from critics and interest from prominent exhibitions alike. But in 1993, he decided to move to his family’s rural estate in Tuscany, Petrolo, leaving his paintbrushes behind.

The family bought the land and planted the first vines there in 1947. The hilly landscape looks out on the Arno Valley with its olive groves and slightly rundown farmhouses not far from Florence; it’s an area that – unlike Bolgheri or Montalcino – still captures a sense of rustic charm.

By the time of Sanjust’s arrival, the winery made a dry and rather meager Chianti Colli Aretini, like many others, and a decent but as of yet unexciting sangiovese, Torrione.

Even so, the time was ripe. The Super Tuscan movement was coming of age and many were already boasting of proven success with international varieties, thanks to improved techniques in viticulture and winemaking. 

Luca became passionate about merlot. He travelled to Bordeaux and visited the great châteaux, primarily those on the Right Bank, where he became friends with a number of top vignerons.

The family already had some merlot, his mother Lucia having planted a few hectares back in 1990. But the intention had always been to blend it into Torrione. 

Galatrona was first created by Luca Sanjust in 1994 – this is the bottle that started it all.

Then the eureka moment came in 1994. During that year’s harvest, the family completely forgot about one parcel of the merlot. Having picked it so late, they thought it best to vinify it separately, unsure of the quality.

And who should stumble into the estate’s rather basic tasting room that year but the young James Suckling, who had begun covering Europe for the Wine Spectator. James was so impressed that he convinced Luca to bottle the wine as a pure merlot.

This serendipitous story was how the pure merlot sensation now known as Galatrona came to be. Its namesake is the property’s iconic square tower, which was built as an important fortification in medieval times.

Although today Petrolo produces a number of excellent wines — including the Torrione, now a great value wine in its own right — it’s Galatrona that is sought after by collectors around the world.

James often likens Galatrona to Le Pin. The wine shares the same immense power but also sublime tannin structure and finesse.

The terroir of Galatrona also bears some resemblance to Le Pin. Its 10 hectares slope close to the valley, where the soil is rich with all-important clay, just like the famous, low-lying Pomerol plateau. This comes in handy particularly during drier years, when the loam holds onto the scarce moisture.

Nevertheless, Galatrona is a distinctly Italian cru, the obvious point being that it is a lot hotter in the summer in Tuscany. Just as importantly though, the entire parcel is dotted with large rocks unique to Chianti: alberese, a type of marlstone made from fossils, and galestro, a type of shale.