Home › Wine Notes › Avignonesi & Capannelle
Avignonesi & Capannelle '50 & 50' Toscana IGT 2011
RedItaly2011
By Daniel Min · Tasted 2019-11-22 · Published 2026-09-09 · Updated 2026-09-09
At a glance
I could not confirm a Wine Spectator, James Suckling, Wine Advocate, Vinous or Gambero Rosso score for the 2011. Vivino lists two critic entries without naming the publication: 89 points (Sep 2015) and 91 points (Oct 2015). For reference, recent vintages: 2016 James Suckling 94 and Wine Advocate 94; 2017 Suckling 93; 2018 Wine Advocate 93; 2019 Suckling 94, Wine Advocate 94, Wine Spectator 93, Wine & Spirits 92 (per the wine.com product pages).
Market note: Capannelle's own sheets put production at 30,000–40,000 bottles (750ml) a year. On Vivino the 2011 sits exactly on this wine's long-run average of 4.4; the high points are 2005, 2008 and 2015 at 4.5. No overseas stock or market price for the 2011 could be confirmed.
What this wine is
'50 & 50' is not one company's wine. Avignonesi in Montepulciano and Capannelle in Gaiole in Chianti — two estates some 60km apart — each supply grapes, and the two halves are blended. Capannelle's own sheet spells the blend out: "50% Sangiovese Capannelle, 50% Merlot Avignonesi." The Sangiovese comes from Gaiole, where Chianti Classico was born; the Merlot from Montepulciano.
It began in 1988. Raffaele Rossetti, the businessman who had bought a 17th-century villa and 10.5 hectares in Gaiole in 1974 and founded Capannelle, saw an exceptional Tuscan vintage and finally acted on his idea of blending his Sangiovese with a Tuscan Merlot. The Merlot he chose was Avignonesi's. Avignonesi's official page describes the wine as one "sprung from the friendship which binds the owners of Avignonesi in Montepulciano and Capannelle in Chianti Classico." It is among the earliest joint ventures in Italian wine.
That is also why it is an IGT. The moment grapes from two zones are blended, the wine can be neither Chianti Classico DOCG nor Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG. It follows the Super Tuscan grammar of the 1970s and 80s — Sangiovese plus an international variety, outside the rules — except that what this wine joins is not one plot to another grape but one appellation to another. Fermentation is in 13–30hl Slavonian oak conical vats, ageing 18–24 months in barrique; 30hl per hectare, 13.5% alcohol, 30,000–40,000 bottles a year.
Avignonesi has its own story. Known for Vino Nobile and a legendary Vin Santo, the estate was bought in 2009 by the Belgian Virginie Saverys, who converted it to biodynamics straight away; it now farms more than 300 certified organic and biodynamic hectares between Montepulciano and Cortona. 2011 falls in the middle of that conversion.
What the world says
2011 was hot in Tuscany. Wine Spectator's vintage report records an African heat wave arriving on 18 August that pulled the harvest roughly three weeks forward, with sunburn and dehydration; Merlot suffered most, with soaring alcohol and troublesome fermentations. By zone, Montepulciano, Montalcino and the Maremma fared better than Chianti Classico. Jancis Robinson's vintage chart calls 2011 "an exceptionally hot vintage with a very irregular weather pattern." A wine that is half Sangiovese and half Merlot took both sets of conditions at once.
The community score never moved. The Vivino average for the 2011 is 4.4 from 797 ratings, with 729 of them — 91.5% — at 4 or above. The label as a whole averages 4.4 across 12,189 ratings. Since 2004 this wine has never left the 4.2–4.5 band, and the 2011 sits precisely on its mean. Structure is surprisingly mid-scale: acidity 3.2/5, intensity 3.4, tannin 3.1, sweetness 1.8. The aroma keywords run oak (444 mentions) > black fruit (286) > earth and leather (238) > red fruit (167).
The critics' column is empty. I could not confirm a Wine Spectator, James Suckling, Wine Advocate, Vinous or Gambero Rosso score for the 2011; only two entries on Vivino survive, listed without a publication name — 89 points (September 2015) and 91 points (October 2015). Recent vintages have taken 94 from Suckling and 94 from the Wine Advocate in 2016 and 2019.
"2011 vintage. 50% Sangiovese (from Capannelle) and 50% Merlot (from Avignonesi). Not from the best vintage, but showing very well. Full-bodied, yet soft and elegant in texture, helped by the relatively light 13.5% abv." — Vivino review, May 2023, 4.4 stars
"Great nose of sweet black fruits and cherry, plums and tobacco, bitter almond and olive, basil and leather. Great balance and structure, even in this small vintage." — Vivino review, Oct 2018, 4.5 stars
How I drank it
November 22, 2019, 4.0 stars. The note reads: "Oak, chocolate, leather, pepper, plum, blackberries, cherry. The last taste was vanilla."
Seven aromas listed, then one sentence added. The seven line up almost exactly with the Vivino community's keywords: oak (127 mentions, first in the oak group), leather (97, first in earth), plum (82, first in black fruit), cherry (77, first in red fruit), chocolate (69, third in oak), blackberry (64, second in black fruit), pepper (32, first in spice). All seven are top-three terms in their groups. What the community named and I left out amounts to tobacco (64) and violet (13).
The last sentence is not another aroma; it is a record of order. "The last taste was vanilla." Vanilla ranks second in the oak group with 91 mentions, so the community found it too — but I wrote it down as the thing that stayed at the end rather than as one more item on the list. Apparently what I remembered most clearly about this bottle was the sequence, not the inventory.
Three bottles are logged that day. This 50 & 50 at 4.0, a Leonard Kreusch Beerenauslese 2015 at 4.5, and San Leonardo's Terre di San Leonardo 2014 at 3.0. The German sweet wine took the day's high score ("gasoline, fruity, honey, lychee, ripe peach, golden colour"), while the other Italian red — whose note reads "plum, blackcurrant / oak, leather, vanilla / tobacco, cherry", nearly the same list as this one — came in a full point lower. Two bottles with almost identical aroma notes and a 1.0 gap in score, side by side on one evening.
My 4.0 is 0.4 below the community's 4.4. This is one of the highest community scores of any wine in this magazine, yet in my own log it sits below Almaviva (4.5) and Solaia 2012 (5.0). I met Capannelle once more, on 17 July 2021, with Solare 2010 — also 4.0. Vivino's drinking window is 2016–2023, so 2019 was the middle of it.
Where this wine shows up
In the Ninth Apostle arc, the 2004 vintage appears as the second of three Tuscan bottles Honma brings to Shizuku. The manga likens it to a major-league ballpark — cheerleaders, children eating ice cream, a packed stadium — entertainment on a scale matched by real complexity.
Kami no Shizuku wine list — volume 29 · Comic Gourmet — Kami no Shizuku vol. 29 wine list
Artwork and stills are not reproduced for copyright reasons; scenes are summarised.
Vivino community data
2011 vintage rating distribution (797 ratings, average 4.4)
| 5★ | 207 (26%) | |
| 4★ | 522 (65%) | |
| 3★ | 64 (8%) | |
| 2★ | 2 (0%) | |
| 1★ | 2 (0%) |
Most-mentioned aromas
| Family | Mentions | Top keywords |
|---|---|---|
| Oak | 444 | oak 127 · vanilla 91 · chocolate 69 · tobacco 64 · cedar 18 |
| Black fruit | 286 | plum 82 · blackberry 64 · black cherry 36 · blackcurrant 23 · black fruit 20 |
| Earth & leather | 238 | leather 97 · earthy 38 · smoke 24 · minerals 13 · balsamic 11 |
| Red fruit | 167 | cherry 77 · raspberry 33 · red fruit 18 · red cherry 13 · strawberry 13 |
| Spice | 97 | pepper 32 · cinnamon 17 · licorice 13 · eucalyptus 6 · mint 6 |
| Dried fruit | 33 | prune 12 · fig 6 · dried cranberry 5 · raisin 4 |
| Floral | 20 | violet 13 · lavender 4 |
Structure: Acidity 3.2/5 · Intensity 3.4/5 · Tannin 3.1/5 · Sweetness 1.8/5
Average by vintage (all vintages: 12189 ratings, average 4.4)
| Vintage | Average | Ratings |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 4.4 | 251 |
| 2005 | 4.5 | 242 |
| 2006 | 4.4 | 379 |
| 2007 | 4.4 | 447 |
| 2008 | 4.5 | 640 |
| 2009 | 4.4 | 258 |
| 2010 | 4.4 | 520 |
| 2011 | 4.4 | 797 |
| 2012 | 4.4 | 837 |
| 2013 | 4.4 | 1482 |
| 2014 | 4.4 | 351 |
| 2015 | 4.5 | 1707 |
| 2016 | 4.4 | 400 |
| 2017 | 4.4 | 1414 |
| 2018 | 4.4 | 293 |
| 2019 | 4.3 | 277 |
| 2020 | 4.3 | 149 |
| 2021 | 4.2 | 47 |
My original note (Vivino, 2019-11-22)
“Oak, chocolate, leather, pepper, plum, blackberries, cherry. The last taste was vanilla.”
Frequently asked questions
What kind of wine is '50 & 50'?
A Toscana IGT red made jointly since 1988 by Avignonesi in Montepulciano and Capannelle in Gaiole in Chianti. Capannelle supplies 50% Sangiovese, Avignonesi 50% Merlot; it is fermented in Slavonian oak vats and aged 18–24 months in barrique. 13.5% alcohol, 30,000–40,000 bottles a year, Vivino community average 4.4.
Why is it an IGT rather than Chianti Classico?
Because it blends grapes from two zones. The Sangiovese comes from Gaiole in Chianti, inside Chianti Classico; the Merlot from Montepulciano. Appellation rules allow neither DOCG on the label, so it is bottled as Toscana IGT — the same position as the Super Tuscans, which stepped outside the rules by adding international varieties to Sangiovese.
How much does it cost?
I could not confirm a world average price for the 2011 (Wine-Searcher blocks access with a 403). For recent vintages, overseas retail runs to US$120.99 for the 2019 at wine.com and €123.99 for the 2021 at the Italian retailer Oltrevino, both checked in September 2026.
What food goes with it?
The Vivino community pairs it with beef, lamb, veal, poultry and cured meat; Capannelle's own sheet suggests game, roast meat, red meat and strong cheese. At 13.5% alcohol it is not a heavy wine, and the acidity keeps it comfortable with tomato-based Italian dishes.
Links & sources
View on Vivino · Prices on Wine-Searcher
- Capannelle official — 50&50 Avignonesi–Capannelle (blend, vinification, ageing, production)
- Avignonesi official — 50&50 Toscana I.G.T. (1988 origin, the friendship between two houses)
- Wine Spectator — 2011 Vintage Report: Italy (Tuscan heat wave, early harvest)
- Wine.com — Avignonesi 50 & 50 product pages (critic scores, price)
- Vivino — wine page and community data