Thirty years ago, Luigi Fabbro and Londoner Katia Nussbaum founded San Polino – Montalcino’s first certified organic estate - with 4 (now 5) hectares of vines and 16 of forest, 9km from the town to the south-east on the way to Castelnuovo. They now have another site on the other side, 5 hectares of vines bordering Fuligni and Padelletti.
Katia, daughter of Romanian-Jewish father and brought up in Putney, had always felt a fish out of water in London, and had met Luigi ('Gigi') from Friuli in Katmandhu in her gap year. Having completed her education at SOAS, she went to join him in Italy. Luigi, a trained chemist and former computer scientist, brought his experiences mapping the biodiversity of the Amazon rainforest to this corner of Tuscany, and the couple aim to 'create wines as complete reflections of the biodiversity of the terroir'.
Blessed with an extraordinary range of soil types across their land – from ancient sea beds to volcanic minerals - they are self-proclaimed extremists when it comes to organic farming, using microorganisms in place of sulphur and copper in the vineyard. Their own compost is made from the stalks and skins from the grapes, and grasses and beans are regularly planted to add nutrients to the soil and increase biodiversity. The wines undergo spontaneous fermentation from indigenous yeasts, and see a 45-day maceration on skins, before being pressed and raised in large Slavonian and French oak for three years. 5% of the oak is new, for a hint of spice.
The vineyards have been organic since 1994 and are also certified biodynamic. The philosophy of biodynamics, with its emphasis on harmony and balance, plus obsessive care in the winemaking, lends the wines a phenomenal amount of elegance and purity of fruit, with a finish that seems to go on forever.
