Southern Tuscany is home to a handful of wineries, which are often described as wine cathedrals. The Petra vineyard near Suvereto (by architect Mario Botta) is an interesting example of this new approach in winery architecture. At Petra the world-class architect went beyond designing an impressive wine cellar, but also included the outlay of the vineyards in his aim to form a contemporary agricultural landscape. 

If it is true that the way to good wine starts in the he vineyard, it is also true that only the quality of the cork, the design of the label, and the beauty of the bottle shape will bring the consumer's experience to full circle. Taking this thought further it's obvious that the birthplace of a good or even fantastic wine, is yes the vine and its grapes, but also the winery building in particular and the whole estate in general. 

The Petra winery has four flag ship wines, all of them refined in French oak and three o them dedicated to just one grape variety each: Alto made up of 100% Sangiovese grapes follows in the footsteps of Tuscany's most traditional mono-cultivars Rosso and Brunello di Montalcino; Quercegobbe (100% Merlot) and Potenti (100% Cabernet Sauvignon) are unusual but interesting examples of the more recent Super Tuscan wine culture. An exemption to the one-variety-a-bottle rule is the wine, that carries the name of the estate: Petra, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot grapes. 

Reflected in the wine labels are the round shapes of Botta's architecture. Whereas, in the case of Petra's Mareto wine - a blend of Merlot, Syrah and Malbec - the label pictures the prefab parts of the Moretti holding used in the construction of the barricaia (the cellar dedicated to barriques). 

Wine cathedrals have their price. Talking Tuscan wines, the young Petra winery is definitely located at the higher end of the scale (direct sale around 28 Euro per bottle for the mono variety wines). In case you travel on a shoestring, access the Val di Cornia DOC wines via Petra's easy to drink Zingari; the name means "gypsies", maybe a hint to the several grape types involved in the blend (Merlot, Sangiovese, Syrah and Petit Verdot).