Podere Bellosguardo is a very old farm dating back to the 18th century. It is built in a typical rural Tuscan style and located in the Casentino valley between Florence and Arezzo, in the small village of Pratovecchio Stia. In the past 10 years, the Miraglia family decided to enhance and expand the local wine heritage by producing wine typical to this unique region and well adapted to the specificity of the territory and the climatic conditions. The cellars have been restored in part from the original ones, which form the foundation of this ancient farmhouse while the more recent cellars were originally used as stables for breeding the famous Chianina breed of cattle. Nowadays in addition to seeing these cellars, visitors can also enjoy a wonderful display of old agricultural equipment used both in the production of wine as well as in farming work.
Hystory
Following a genetic analysis of the old vineyard carried out in Conegliano Veneto in 2004, we discovered that the vineyard was comprised mainly of the Syrah and Sangiovese varieties with a more limited presence of old varieties typical of the region. The Syrah is present in Tuscany since 19th century as documented by an old wine guide from 1903 about foreign wines grown in Italy. Our great grandfather – who bought the farm in 1880 and specialized in viticulture – decided to produce the most famous varieties in that period. This is why Syrah is present in the farm. The century old vineyard is still present on the farm grounds. This vineyard is characterized by the old system of care: it is not grafted and the technique is known as ungrafted wine (“Piede Franco” or “Franco di Piede”).
Despite the devastation coming from phylloxera, that destroyed hectares and hectares of vineyards everywhere in Europe, most part of our vineyard survived because of the special characteristics of the soil, made up of sand, loam and clay in equal parts with a landslide effect that saved the roots from the phylloxera attacks. Today the old vineyard still produces and represent the origin of the new grape plantation, from 2008 on.
The wine produced by the old vineyard is named “Pied Franc” and is produced using the old Tuscan style, that means without rasping. The “Pied Franc” is made from 80% of Sangiovese (always old varieties) and 20% of Syrah. It is produced in very small amounts and is available also in Magnum format. In 2008 we started with the new production and we decided to “bet” on the Syrah which today represents our main production. Its origins by our old vineyards of Syrah and by some clones coming from the Rhone Valley. Our Syrah is characterized by a well-defined but reserved personality that focuses mainly on fineness instead of boldness and reflects the typical bouquet of the variety: dark fruit flavours from sweet blueberry to savoury black olive and then a spicy peppery note in the aftertaste. Another production typical of the farm is a sweet wine, named “Il passito”, with a taste reminiscent of the old way the “Vinsanto” was made in Casentino. The peculiarity is that it is withered from October to December and the grapes are hanging from the ceiling. This is a typical product of Tuscany; in this case it is not very sweet and it could be combined not only with dessert but also with first dishes such as consommé or appetizers (Sauterne style). This wine is produced with old autochthonous varieties found on the farm, both red (“canaiolo”) and white (trebbiano, crepolino, san colombano). In recent years we decided to also produce a white wine (BelloinBianco) and a rose wine (BelloinRosa). The White wine is made using the varieties Muller Thurgau, Viognier and White Muscad while the rose is 100% Syrah.
