SALITA

The first mention of Castagnoli was as early as the year 979, when it was an abbey. Centuries later it became the home of a noble Florentine family. The name recalls the previous existence of a chestnut forest.

The wines produced here are a true reflection of the hard work that has been undertaken by the current owners, the Shefernacker family, who are also wine producers in Württemberg. They are fully organic, and use some biodynamic preparations and principles, but are not fully biodynamic. Today the vineyard is about 11 ha in production, of which about 4.5 is on the terraces, interspersed with olive trees, planted on soils with a mix of galestro, loam, limestone and schist, at between 360 and 420m. Two-thirds of the total estate is forest which which helps to regulate temperatures.

The vineyard was planted from 1978, and they decided to make narrow stone terraces on a steep south and south-westerly-facing slope. The Sangiovese vines were planted each supported by one stake, like the albarelli of Etna. The current generation may rue this choice as these terraces and the way of training the vines both entail an enormous amount of manual work. However, the quality of the 'Terrazze' Riserva is indisputable.

The cool, high terrain gives elegant, long-ripened Sangiovese, and although they have experimented with other varieties, it is this which really shines here.

The team here is led by Tim Schefernacker (pictured with his young Maremma Sheepdog Lucie), helped by Filippo (winemaker) with Michele, Stefano and Davide in the vineyards and winery.