Buoyed by the belief that we could become winemakers and make our own Chianti, we left our jobs and moved to Pieve de’ Pitti, in the Lands of Pisa, one of the newest wine regions in Tuscany. I personally spent several years, first supported by consultants, working on our oldest vineyard, the ones my Grandpa planted in the late 60s, using any and all free time to learn everything I could about growing grapes and making wine. And traveling a lot around the world, visiting friends who produce wines in different countries, tasting (and drinking!!) a lot, directly experiencing different approach to vinegrowing and winemaking. Based on our taste and our traditions, we make the “rubestio” (uniquely rustic and finicky) character of Sangiovese our own and in 2001 we launched Pieve de’ Pitti with our first vintage, which was met with great critical success and led us to search for additional high quality Sangiovese grapes.
As most of the Tuscan lands, our soils, sands, clays and limestones, are rich of shells and fossils, but the original character of our wines mainly comes from the sea breezes that intensively blows all year round from South-West, over the Miemo and Castellina hills. Such puffs, dance through our grapes with a salt embrace, so intense and surprising. That’s why we planted Vermentino, known to be a grape of the Mediterranean coast, on untraditional soil with direct marine influences. Additionally, just because we love fresh and flavourful white wines.
For the same reason, we loved the precious gem of late harvest Trebbiano, a golden and juicy grape that made history in the Lands of Pisa. We also felt free to plant some Syrah, to add spicy notes and a bit of verve to the classic style that perfectly represents us and our philosophy.
