From the winery: Although today La Torre alle Tolfe is over 60km from the coast, the land of La Torre alle Tolfe was once an ancient beach – between 3-5 million years ago, during the Pliocene epoch. This ancient coastline still shapes our terroir today; our sandy soils are rich in oyster fossils, other marine fossils, and rounded, wave-beaten pebbles.

This soil composition combined with our hilltop position (330m above sea level) contributes to well-draining soil and a distinctive salinity and freshness in our wines, but can be a farming challenge during the height of the summer dry season or the heaviest rains of the winter. It is out of care for this soil and the desire for the long-term health of our land that we have chosen to invest in regenerative farming strategies.

When Mania returned to Chianti to manage her family’s property in 2015, she discovered that the organic approach that had been implemented since 2004 was simply not enough to ensure the long-term health of the greater ecosystem – for many years, though through well-intentioned practices, the soil had been drained of precious nutrients, groundcover, and microbiology. As such, the land was suffering in the summer from drought and in the winter from rain-driven erosion.

Necessity – the need to save our soil – sparked our exploration of a more holistic approach to farming, which led us naturally to regenerative practices. In regenerative agriculture, the primary goal is to rehabilitate depleted soils, contributing more nutrients, structure, and microbiology than we extract through farming.

In 2017, we enlisted the help of agronomer Stefano Amadeo to begin an annual analysis of our soils as well as the plant, animal, and insect biodiversity in the vineyards. Through this project, we have received Diversity Ark certification in 2023 and are increasingly managing the vineyards as ecosystems – building the organic matter and structure of our soils and enhancing the diversity of our vineyards’ native plants, animals, insects, and microbial life. The tools we use to promote biodiversity from the ground up include: targeted use of organic manure, grass cover, and green manures (such as nitrogen fixing plants) to ensure ideal growth conditions for our vines and grapes.

In 2023, our team welcomed Sascha Osterle to help expand our regenerative agriculture projects in both the vineyards and olive groves. Since then, we have introduced practices such as the culture and application of active indigenous microbes, homemade compost and compost teas, planting diversified cover crops, and enabling multi-species rational grazing amongst the vines.

This deep dive into the health of our soil and ecosystem naturally led to an interest in the microbiological diversity of our vineyards, which in turn led us to return to the traditional practice of 100% spontaneous fermentation for our wines in 2018.

In the cellar, our winemaking approach serves as a natural continuation of the work begun in the vineyards. Our wines are spontaneously fermented after selective manual harvests, using vitrified cement vats or stainless steel tanks, with no direct temperature control. Wood is used sparingly in order to preserve the freshness and minerality of the fruit from our vineyards. We age select wines in neutral oak tonneaux and our Chianti Colli Senesi Riserva in custom handmade Italian chestnut barrels, maintaining an older regional tradition and lending exciting dimension to our wines.

Our aim in the cellar is to minimise as much as possible the use of technology and chemical additives: these we see more as a limitation than a benefit, standardising the wines instead of letting their particularities and unique characters emerge. We also try to avoid tight filtration, which can similarly reduce the full expressions of the soil and vines.

We choose to vinify each of our four traditional grape varieties separately, which allows us to offer the rare opportunity to taste these varietals in their pure form, year after year. Since adopting this “Chianti deconstructed” approach in 2018, we have happily witnessed the story of each varietal, our soils, and the unique conditions of each vintage emerge over time.

Our winemaker, Teresa Castellani, joined our team in 2022 as assistant winemaker and stepped into the leading winemaking role at La Torre alle Tolfe in 2025. She brings with her a wealth of experience gathered in the vineyards and cellars of wineries around the world – including Piemonte, California, Australia, and France. Teresa’s enthusiasm and intuition has forged an even closer connection between our vineyards and cellar activities, and builds upon the work of our previous enologist, Giacomo Mastretta. Together, we look forward to continuing to explore our monovarietal-focused portfolio.

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