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Fèlsina e Poderi: a - Fèlsina (Villa, Cantina, etc.) b - Santa Maria c - Valli Chianti Classico d - Rancino e - Rancia f - Ruzzatoio g - Molino d’Ombrone h - Casale di Fèlsina i - Terrarossa e l - Poggiolo 11 m - Arcidosso Chianti Colli Senesi n - Casalino 7 9 8 g o - Arcidossino p - Podere di Fèlsina 10 6 f 21 15 d 18 5 21 l 15 19 12 3 18 14 13 4 15 20 c b 23 h Fattoria 2 22 Vigne: di Fèlsina i a p 1 1 - Santa Maria 2 - Cerro m 3 - Mandorli 4 - Fornace 5 - Sambra 6 - Piano di Rancia Castelnuovo Berardenga 7 - Rancia o 8 - Rancia Piccola (Maestro Raro) 9 - Rancia Nuova 16 10 - Cucule n 11 - Colonia 17 Fiume Ombrone 12 - Poggio al sole 13 - Valli 14 - Molinuzzo 15 - Poggiolo 16 - Casalino 17 - Arcidossino 18 - Ruzzatoio 19 - Malena 20 - Bagnaie 21 - Poggiolo 22 - Casale 2 23 - San Giuseppe Castelnuovo Berardenga - Siena - Tuscany Above: Rancia, from the ancient Frankish “Grange”: farm-monastery dating to before1000. Previous page: Fèlsina As soon as one sets foot in this countryside, one feels a moral responsibility to this land. Fèlsina boasts ancient origins. Its name refers religious buildings and lands still on the to the term used by the Etruscans for a halting Fèlsina estate today; these served pilgrims on place, where their way to Rome along the Via hospitality was offered. Francigena, one of the Middle Ages’ That ancient, enigmatic people, great pilgrimage and commercial who at the dawn of civilisation routes, connecting Santiago introduced the grapevine and the de Compostela, the Holy Land olive tree to the Italian peninsula, and Jerusalem as well. took it upon themselves to give to Fèlsina still receives travellers this area too, to Fèlsina, a who arrive from the surrounds of distinctive identity that presaged its Castelnuovo Berardenga, a town agricultural qualities and the human where once rose the residences, society which that potential drew here. fortresses, and early church establishments The Romans too recognised its beneficent under the dominance of the Berardenghi, nature, and prized Fèlsina as a place of an ancient Frankish dynasty that founded refreshment and encounter along the Via the duchy of Siena and lived here in 1865. Antiqua, the ancient arterial linking Siena Fèlsina’s face today is largely 18th century, with Arezzo. There is evidence, in 1165, of a the result of renovations by noble families hospitalis in Felsine, along with primitive linked to the Order of St. Stephen. 5 Above: Domenico Poggiali at Fèlsina just after the purchase of the estate at the end of the 1970s. “You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth, and wine to gladden the heart of man.” Psalm 104, 14-15 In 1966, Domenico Poggiali came across a of the wine cellar. To his passion for wine wine cellar set in the tufa, modest, built of he married his skills as a businessman, and stone, and with a broad brick father and son modernised the vault, just big enough for the management of the vineyards few hectares of vines, of fine without losing the spirit of quality, that supplied wine to local traditions. In the space the nearby villa. As was the of just a few years, the modest custom, each of the individual vineyards had grown to more farm parcels on the larger estate than 40 hectares, and the soul managed its own vineyard and and organisation of the winery made wine in a cellar right operation changed as well; on the parcel. At that time Domenico, who loved making the estate had fewer than ten hectares wine as much as he loved a good challenge, of vineyard, but Domenico immediately decided to wager on the qualities and recognised the potential of the soils, and expertise of a handful of men, together with his son Giuseppe launched at a time when few in Italy an expansion of the vineyards and would have taken the risk. 7 “To be wine producers in Tuscany since 1966 means bearing the weight of history on our shoulders and carrying it into the present.” Giovanni Poggiali In the latter half of the 1970s, Domenico’s son- relationship with Luigi Veronelli, in-law, Giuseppe Mazzocolin, married to his who had been a friend of Fèlsina since 1966, daughter Gloria, entered the wine operation, shaped a growth strategy that became obvious with responsibility for in the exceptional consistency strengthening sales of the wines, from 1983 - the and marketing. first year of Fontalloro and of But his role soon took on Rancia - up to the present day. more profound and The strategic and economic far-reaching connotations. expertise of Domenico and His humanistic studies, Giuseppe Poggiali ushered the intimacy of his human in an extraordinary period, relationships, his strong work which received even more ethic, and his deep respect for the Tuscan support from Giovanni Poggiali, eldest of and Italian culture together constituted his Giuseppe’s three sons. Giovanni brought most important contribution to the growth with him his firm advocacy of research and of the Fèlsina wine enterprise. Mazzocolin genuineness in both vineyard and cellar, and himself was the one to propose collaboration of the central importance of Sangiovese in with Venetian oenologist Franco Bernabei. the history of Fèlsina, and his belief in the From that point on, their combined ideas and fine balance between nature and technology, expertise, along with the stimulating between varietal fidelity and market demands. 9 “Where your gaze can roam freely over the hills as far as Monte Amiata, rising imposing and majestic above the horizon, and wander far away towards Montalcino and the Maremma, and the Mediterranean.” Giuseppe Mazzocolin The landscape is one of far-reaching hills wisdom of the cellarmaster. Rancia, overlooking the town of Castelnuovo Colonia, Arcidosso, Santa Maria, Ruzzatoio, Berardenga. A land bathed in Terrarossa: these are but some light, where at an exceptional of the individual farms and moment in Italy’s history, even if locales that make up Fèlsina, only for brief moment, the dream each representing an individual of an ideal city took on terroir. Every type of cultivation concrete form: Siena. at Fèlsina - vineyard, olive grove, And it is precisely here, in this grain field, garden, and wood - nonpareil land, that the grape is characterised by the deepest varieties of Fèlsina express the reverence for terroir, which for us uniqueness of their terroir, fruit means succeeding, through hard of a unparalleled union between work and cultivation practices, in earth and grape, attention and transmitting the very soul of the cultivation, seasons and climate, culture landscape, the impression of its fragrances, of and hard manual labour, of instinct and the sounds of Tuscany and Siena, and of this intelligence, land and vegetation, corner of Chianti, in such a way that its history oenological science and the acquired and traditions take on new life. Page at left: looking from Podere di Rancia towards Monte Amiata. 11 Land - Vineyard - Wine - Olive Oil Border Land Fèlsina is located in the commune of of layered marl, are similar to a formation Castelnuovo Berardenga, in the province of shared with other areas in Chianti. Others Siena, on the southeast edge of the Chianti are characterised by layers of sandstone Classico zone, between the with silt and clay, along last spurs of the Chianti hills with mineral-rich marine and the beginning of the sediments, a guarantee of Ombrone valley. Overall, good natural fertility. Strange Fèlsina comprises about 500 as it may seem, the effects hectares, with a little more are unexpectedly uniform, than 90 planted to vineyard, yielding characteristics that at elevations ranging from are the unique hallmarks 350 to 420 metres. The heath clay of the Crete of all of Fèlsina’s wines, in particular its Senesi, which lie not far off, in the direction of Sangiovese, which displays a penetrating Montalcino, constitute a reminder that Fèlsina, bouquet with aromas of earth, tobacco leaf, which straddles the border of the Chianti and smoke, alongside notes of spice and black Classico denomination, represents a “border liquorice. From this common base, various land,” from a geological perspective. Its terrains distinctive qualities and nuances stand out, are in fact quite diverse. Some with essentially their number actually quite large, thanks to rocky-calcareous soils, and a preponderance this growing area’s uncommon traits and variations. Page at left: the clay soils of the Crete Senesi. 15 Sangiovese of Fèlsina Fèlsina boasts a variety of climates, landscapes, as a consequence of an increased awareness by and terrains, its various vineyards characterised the family and its colleagues that terroir is, of by diverse soils and microclimates, each unique course, conditioned by geology, but it is even in its individual qualities. more profoundly a social Fèlsina’s Sangiovese - or construct. In this sense, the Sangioveto, the original Tuscan preservation and further word - takes its birth from development of Sangiovese is this extraordinary variety, the leitmotif of a commitment a combination of variables that illuminates the concept of - different soils and clones - tradition. The oldest farmers on that constitutes a distinctive this land were able to give new heritage to hand down to expression to age-old practices future generations. For this reason, starting and experiences, marrying them to modern in 1983, we initiated a programme of massal viticulture, then authoritatively transmitting this selections that has allowed us to preserve an priceless ensemble to the younger generations. important patrimony of different Sangioveses In this cultural-agricultural context, various cultivated here through lengthy efforts and Sangiovese sub-varieties have emerged. This rich much research.

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