Podere della Civettaja

Podere della Civettaja is located in the upper Casentino, north of Arezzo, almost on the border with Romagna, right by the Foreste Casentinesi National Park. On clay and limestone soils, at about 500 meters of altitude, the winery grows exclusively Pinot Noir, a variety more typical of Burgundy than Tuscany.

The project began in 2005 with Vincenzo Tommasi, an agronomist by profession, who after a trip to Burgundy decided to make a French-style Pinot Noir in Tuscany, a challenge then considered almost reckless for an area never before dedicated to viticulture. In 2010 Tommasi founded and now chairs the Association of Pinot Noir Producers of the Tuscan Apennines.

The few hectares of vineyard, farmed biodynamically with high planting density, are vinified plot by plot and blended only later. In the cellar the process is handcrafted: manual bunch sorting, spontaneous fermentation in open wooden vats and clarification only through settling in concrete.

Yes: critic Gianni Mura called it one of the best reds he tasted that year in Repubblica, while the Ais Vitae guide has repeatedly highlighted its elegance and fresh fruit character, significant recognition for a project that brought Pinot Noir to a part of Tuscany never before considered suited to viticulture.