We’re three decades into America’s love affair with all things Tuscan, which likely started with Frances Mayes’ mid-nineties bestseller Under the Tuscan Sun. (I won’t delve deeply into that, other than to say I’ve written previously about my love-hate relationship with the book and the Tuscan fever it unleashed.) Affixing the word Tuscan to a product—whether Tuscan bathroom tiles, Tuscan fast-food sandwiches, or Tuscan cat food (Fancy Feast’s White Meat Chicken Tuscany anyone?)—has been a surefire middlebrow sales tactic. With wine, it’s no different.

Yet despite “Tuscan” becoming a hackneyed marketing concept, the real Tuscany is still home to some of Italy’s most important wines. Most wine lovers know that Sangiovese is the king grape here, and they also surely know the big names—Brunello di Montalcino, Chianti Classico, the Super Tuscans of Sassacaia and Ornellaia. But after spending a week in Florence tasting wines at the annual Anteprima di Toscana, I can tell you that there is a great deal happening in Tuscany beyond those famous wines.

Of the various tastings I attended over four days, one of the most exciting was called “L’Altra Toscana.” There I tasted wines from eight appellations that we might call Alt Tuscany, including Carmignano, Montecucco, Cortona, Maremma, and Chianti Rufina, as well as a hodge-podge of innovative wines bottled as IGT Vino Toscana. (IGT is the more general Indicazione Geografica Tipica as opposed to the stricter DOC or Denominazione di origine controllata. It’s often used by adventurous winemakers whose approaches don’t fall within the tight confines of the DOC.)

The Carmignano wines in particular jumped out at me. For a while now, I’ve been impressed by the wines of this small appellation, which is located close to Florence. In fact, at only 250 hectares, Carmignano is the smallest Denominazione d’Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG) in Italy. In Carmignano, the Sangiovese can be blended with 10 to 20 percent Cabernet Sauvignon or Cabernet Franc, which gives the wines a unique, serious, structured character. Among Carmignano’s top producers are Tenuta di Capezzana, Piaggia, and Fabrizio Pratesi.

What else is worth knowing about Alt Tuscany?

Seek Out the “Other Chianti”

When it comes to Chianti, most people focus on the largest and most famous appellation: Chianti Classico. But Chianti has seven other subzones, including Colli Aretini, Colli Fiorentini, and Colli Senesi. I spent a good deal of time tasting the eye-opening wines from the Chianti Rufina subzone, with its high-altitude, cool-climate vineyards and long history of quality winemaking.

Chianti Rufina (not to be confused with the giant Ruffino winery) may not be a total secret: Frescobaldi makes wine here, after all. But Chianti Rufina definitely remains under the radar, though that’s not always been the case. By the 18^th century the wines were so popular and respected that Cosimo de’ Medici made a decree in 1716 to protect Chianti Rufina from counterfeiting.

Besides Frescobaldi (whose Nipozzano bottling is a surprisingly good value), I’ve always enjoyed the wines of Selvapiana, Frascole, and Tenuta Bossi Marchesi Gondi. A really good natural producer in the region—who I recently discovered at VinNatur in New York—is Fattoria  di Lavacchio, and at the tasting in Florence I dove deeper into those superb wines.

For years, Chianti Rufina had been trying to gain a classification for its top wines—similar to the Gran Selezioni classification in Chianti Classico. Now that’s happening under the Terraelectae mark that producers can elect to cite on their bottles. Terraelectae wines must be 100 percent Sangiovese, must come from each winery’s top single vineyard site, and must be aged for 30 months—at least 18 months in oak and another six months in bottle.

The results are serious Sangioveses that can stand with the best Chianti Classico Gran Selezioni, and even some Brunello di Montalcino. Even with the significant oak aging, these are cool, balanced wines that are worth seeking out—especially if you’re someone who’s written off big Tuscan wines.

Ciliegiolo Is the Cherry of the Tuscan Coast

Many overlook the fact that Tuscany has a coast. Maremma is its name, and it's one of Italy’s newest up-and-coming wine regions, having only obtained recognition as a DOC in 2014.

One of the most innovative and exciting trends in Maremma is the emergence of red wines made from 100 percent Ciliegiolo (which takes its name from the Italian word for “cherry”). Traditionally, the indigenous Ciliegiolo grape was blended with Sangiovese because of its aromas, its juiciness, and how it softens Sangiovese’s acidity.

In his comprehensive book, Native Wine Grapes of Italy, Ian D’Agata writes “Ciliegiolo is one of the country’s greatest but most underappreciated grape varieties, allowing for wines of mesmerizingly pure aromas and flavors.”

Ciliegiolo may find its best expression is the Maremma, and a critical mass of producers here are making amazing single-varietal bottlings. I tasted more than a dozen examples at Anteprima di Toscana, with impressive Ciliegiolo from wineries such as Alberto Motta, Mantellassi, Poggioargentiera, Sassotondo, and Tenuta Montauto.

The best Ciliegiolo is cool and crunchy, with ripe red fruit, and a touch of smokey minerality. It definitely feels like an of-the-moment red wine.

Surprising Syrah

The use of native varieties isn’t the only exciting grape trend happening in Tuscany. Over in Cortona (where Frances Mayes lived in her villa), producers are making some incredible wines from Syrah. You heard me right: Syrah. How the well-known Rhône variety ended up in Cortona is a bit of a mystery. Even the Consorzio Vini Cortona confesses that it’s unsure of the grape’s origins here: “We think the first plants arrived in the nineteenth century, during the French invasion, or, probably, they were brought by the Count of Montecarlo from Lucca in the early twentieth century, while he was coming back home from a journey in France.”

Regardless of Syrah’s murky origins, it’s well established in Cortona by now, with Syrah accounting for 80 percent of Cortona’s half-million annual bottles. Cortona may be making some of the most exciting Syrah outside of the northern Rhône right now.

The top producer here is Stefano Amerighi, who’s frankly making some of Italy’s best wines at the moment. His beautiful, brooding, dark, fresh, ageworthy Syrah set a high benchmark. Other Cortona wineries to watch are Doveri, Fabrizio Dionisio, La Braccesca (from Antinori), and the Dal Cero family’s Tenuta Montecchiesi.

Don’t Sleep on the Whites

It’s not just Sangiovese and other reds in Tuscany. These are exciting days for Tuscan whites. The most obvious is the emergence of quality Vermentino from coastal Maremma. But there is a lot more white experimentation going on in the lesser-known parts of Tuscany. It runs the gamut from from native grapes like Ansonia from Morisfarms to quirky Riesling from Maestà della Formica to surprisingly fresh Viognier from Possoargentiera to unique blends of Sauvignon Blanc and the native grape Greco from Sassotondo.

Most of the experiments with non-traditional grapes are bottled outside the DOC or DOCG appellations, as Vino Toscana IGT. That’s where a lot of the next-generation energy is coming from—the region’s budding natural wine scene often labels their wine that way.

Meanwhile, one of the most memorable bottles of the tasting was Maestà della Formica’s Toscana Rosso blend of Syrah, Gamay, Ciliegiolo, and Abrustine. For those keeping score, that’s two international varieties, one local grape that’s in the midst of a full revival, and one nearly extinct Tuscan variety. Light, fresh, elegant, a great balance of fruit and spice—it’s a blend that hints at the diversity of Tuscan wine, as well as its exciting future.