Villa Calcinaia

With their 30 hectares of vineyards, the Conti Capponi family has been producing internationally recognized and valued wines since the beginning of the 20th century. Century internationally recognized and valued wines. However, the products of Villa Calcinaia were already known in the 16th century, as documents in the family archives attest. Over the last 50 years, the Capponis have continually invested in their winemaking, improving quality while respecting the connection to the terroir and its respected traditions.

Villa Calcinaia started organic farming in 2000, first in the olive groves, then in the old vineyards planted between 1959 and 1975, and later in all the vineyards. The organic regulation also applies to the production of wine and olive oil. The winery has a very important genomic heritage of vines and olive trees dating back to the end of the 19th century. The organic certification also applies to the small vines used for the new plantings and therefore also includes the nurseries responsible for the Propagation of the material can be used.

The Greve river divides its valley into two halves, which are very different in nature. The right bank is characterized by the mountain range of the "Monti del Chianti" and the soil is mainly composed of sandstone and sand formed by the dissolution of the rocky subsoil of these mountains. On the other hand, the left bank, where Villa Calcinaia is located, dates back to the Eocene, and here calcareous clay is the predominant element. The name Calcinaia can be translated as "chalk quarry", since the extraction of this element is necessary for the production of mortar. Although the lime is present in large quantities in the winery and creates a certain "fil rouge" between the different soils, there are still large differences between the individual vineyards, which are also due to the different altitudes (200 to 350 m above sea level), due to the exposure and the many small tributaries of the Greve River that cross the winery. Over the centuries, these watercourses have formed tributaries that, through sedimentation in the lower layers, have created soil layers with a high proportion of gray clay, called "mattaione" in the Tuscan dialect. In general, the soil structure in Calcinaia is open: deeper soils with a higher proportion of sand on the lower slopes towards the Greve river and shallower clayey soils with a high proportion of stones on the higher soils, especially "Galestro": a clayey slate, whose peeling structure, friable surface, permeability, silica content and richness in trace elements ensure the vegetative balance of the vine and wines full of character. Above a certain altitude, about 300 m, there are also outcrops of "Alberese", a calcareous marl more typical of the Gaiole area and contributing to the great diversity of soils in Calcinaia.