TERROIR AND VINEYARDS
Our 37 hectares of vineyards located between 300 and 580 metres above sea level, reaching the maximum altitude allowed for the production of DOCGI wines, produce well-known DOC and DOCG wines such as: Vernaccia di San Gimignano, Chianti dei Colli Senesi, Chianti Colli Senesi Riserva, San Gimignano Red and fine IGT wines.
Casaccia
The Casaccia area is at a slightly lower altitude (260 metres above sea level). Here there is a perfect balance between the grain size classes that make up the soil, a low content of organic substance and above all an even higher percentage of skeletal rock fragments typically in the form of Tuscan rock: marlstone. The presence of iron is evident in some plots which contributes to the red colour of the soil. The significant presence of skeletal rock fragments makes the soil less suitable for storing water. It is therefore soil more likely to generate a water deficit than the Wine cellar area. This soil gives life to our red wines: Super Tuscan IGT “A DI Angiolini”, “Birbone”, chianti DOCG “stradina” and chianti reserve “ le chiacchere”.
Wine cellar – La Villa
Located around the village it is at approximately 320 metres above sea level. Compared to the Casalchino area, the percentage of skeletal rock fragments is higher and that of clay is lower in the soil. The soil is well structured, favourable for root deepening and generous with regard to the water supply of what is grown there. These characteristics protect the vines from drought even in years with less rainfall. It is therefore an ideal area to produce white grapes.
This soil gives life to Vernaccia La Villa, IGT Vermentino “ Bagioge” and IGT Sauvignon
Casalchino
The highest vineyards on the Fattoria are located here (on average 420 metres above sea level). The soil is characterised by a high presence of clay, an almost absence of skeletal rock fragments and a scarcity of organic substance. Given these characteristics the soil’s capacity to store water is high but with a low propensity to make it available to the plants. As a result, the vineyards here are more subject to anoxic stress and above all to water stress, given the exposure to the wind which by blowing constantly during the spring-summer period, increases evapotranspiration. It is however thanks to this wind and the altitude that humidity does not accumulate for long and vegetation dries quickly. This allows us to keep the grapes healthy until fully ripe, even when this occurs in late October.
This soil at higher altitudes gives life to DOCG Vernaccia Acqualiole, Carrobacco and Scialle white and IGT rosé “Badalui” and DOC San Gimignano red “Ghinzano”
LEBBI
Exposure: south-east
Vernaccia di San Gimignano
Altitude: 230 mt
POGGIONE
Exposure: south-east
Vernaccia di San Gimignano, Petit Verdot, Cabernet F., Cabernet S.
Altitude: 290 mt
ALBERINI
Exposure: Partly northern and partly southern
Trebbiano, Sangiovese
Altitude: 260 mt
CASACCIA AND SETTEPRODE
Exposure: north-east
Sangiovese, Merlot, Vernaccia Di San Gimignano
Altitude: 260 mt
STILLO
Exposure: south-east
Sangiovese, Merlot, Vernaccia Di San Gimignano
Altitude: 260 mt
MANDORLO
Exposure: nord-east
Malvasia, Trebbiano, Vernaccia di San Gimignano
Altitude: 290 mt
RENATA
Exposure: north
Sangiovese
Altitude: 270 mt
SOTTO CAPANNONE
Exposure: West
Vernaccia di San Giminignano
Altitude: 320 mt
CILIEGIO
Exposure: west e sud-west
Vermentino, Sauvignon blanc
Altitude: 320 mt
SOTTO L’ORTI
Exposure: Predominantly east
Sangiovese, Cabernet S., Canaiolo
Altitude: 320 mt
SOTTO LA VILLA
Exposure: north, north-east
Vernaccia di San Gimignano
Altitude: 320 mt
BARBERINO
Exposure:north-west
Merlot , Ciliegiolo, Sangiovese
Altitude: 320 mt
GHINZANO BASSO
Exposure:east
Vernaccia di San Gimignano, Sangiovese, Cabernet S.
Altitude: 410 mt
ALBANO
Exposure:north-west
Vernaccia di San Gimignano
Altitude: 410 mt
GHINZANO ALTO
Exposure:north-west
Sangiovese
Altitude: 430 mt
CASALCHINO
Exposure:east, south-west
Pinot Noir
Altitude: 460 mt
Insights
The terroir is the set of factors that coexist in an agricultural area; the magical combination of the characteristics of the soil, the vines, the climate and man that interacts with them to achieve the wine to make it unique and inimitable.
SOIL IN SAN GIMIGNANO (taken from the production specifications of Vernaccia di San Gimignano)
The production territory falls entirely within the Municipality of San Gimignano, located in the northwestern part of the Province of Siena, in the heart of Tuscany, halfway between the Tyrrhenian coast and the Apennine ridge. It is a hilly territory located between 67 and 629 metres above sea level and the soils are of Pliocene origin, dating back 6.8 – 1.8 million years ago.
Soil intended for the production of all types of DOC San Gimignano, is that formed on marine Pliocene deposits and made up of yellow sand (tuff) and yellow and grey clay which is in turn often stratified on more compact and deeper clay. Furthermore, it is soil strongly characterised by the presence of sand with a skeletal and clayey shale, the combination of which creates favourable conditions for the penetration of plant roots.
It is generally endowed with organic substance thanks also to repeated processing and crop rotations it has been subjected to over the centuries. The different percentage combination of sand, clay, organic substance and skeletal rock fragments which characterises individual soils is the determining pedological element from a viticultural-oenological point of view to exalt flavour and aging capacity, characteristics that the different types of DOC San Gimignano have in common.
The altitude of the vineyards is between 70 and 500 metres above sea level, with variable slope and exposure depending on the hillsides they are located on.
It is an area with a sub-Mediterranean climate with rather dry summers, rather cold winters and rainfall concentrated in two periods: late autumn-early winter and late winter-early spring.
Temperatures are typical of the climate zone it belongs to. The average annual rainfall is around 700 mm, on average distributed over 83 rainy days with a relative minimum in summer and a peak in autumn. The area benefits from good ventilation at all times of the year. Rare episodes of fog.
THE VINTAGE YEARS
History of harvest years
Vintage 2022
Despite a dry winter, the rain at the beginning of April allowed the vines to obtain sufficient water during the spring, receiving some modest additions in April and May. Already from the end of May the lack of precipitation and temperature averages already typical of the summer period predicted a year of heat and drought. This omen materialised over the following months and only the rains of mid-September allowed this climatic trend to be broken. The vintage, however, was earlier than average with the harvest starting around August 20th for the white grapes.
Vintage 2023
Budding was average thanks to the winter that arrived late (after mid-January) but cold, nevertheless. Spring temperatures remained below climatic averages in terms of temperature and considerably higher in terms of rainfall. Never before 2023 had there been so many millimetres of rain fall between April and early June. Despite the first part of the year being rainy and colder than average, in the summer the climate took a radical turn with temperatures rising sharply to the point of exhausting a large part of the soil’s water reserve, causing symptoms of water deficit to appear on the plants. The dry climate persisted until the beginning of November allowing another record to be established: a harvest without rain and without a day’s interruption due to impracticability of the land or wet grapes. Despite an extremely hot end to the season the phenological phases were delayed compared to the average of recent years until full maturation.
