We have been producing wine for a very long time. More than 80 years ago our grandfather Armando cultivated and vinified grapes from the farmers of the surrounding area. Our father, Primo, bought the land the estate presently occupies at the beginning of the 1970s and planted the first vineyard of about 2,300 vines on one hectare.
A few years later our vineyards were awarded with Denomination of Controlled and Guaranteed Origin (DOCG) certification, within the DOCG area of the hills around Arezzo. About 10 years ago our father bought another piece of land and planted new vines, increasing the size of our vineyard to nearly two hectares. In 2001, my brother and I took over the commercial farm business and made our first investment in the vineyards. We uprooted the old vines and replanted select varieties utilising new methodologies in order to obtain a quality product. Utilizing the new concepts, we planted the vines 80cm apart in one vineyard and 60 cm apart in another vineyard, the distance between the rows was reduced to 2.6 metres. This allowed us to plant more than 5,000 rooted vine cuttings of Sangiovese in the lower vineyard, 1,350 cuttings of Syrah in the middle vineyard and 1,000 Sangiovese, 1,150 Syrah and 150 Petit Verdot vines in the uppermost vineyard, for a total of more than 8,500 vines. The vines are all well exposed to sunlight and range from 180 to 230 metres above sea level.
After three years of hard work, passion and caring for the land, and following a careful selection of Sangiovese (50%) and Syrah (50%) grapes, we produced our first 2,200 bottles of “Il Visconte” in 2004. In 2005, we introduced a second label, “CaposelvoliColliAretini DOCG”, produced entirely from Sangiovese grapes. The names of our wines have been taken from thorough research into the history of the local territory. In fact, Caposelvi was a castle in the Viscounty of Val d’Ambra, hence the name “ilVisconte”, whereas the second label was in fact the medieval name of the town, Caposelvoli.
The commercial farm also produces olive oil and different varieties of honey: acacia, wildflower, and chestnut.
