San Donatino

In 1971, Léo Ferré, the famous French singer-songwriter, and his wife Maria Cristina Diaz, purchased the estate and settled with their entire family. Together, they worked to revitalize and improve the production of the vineyards and approximately five thousand olive trees. The first harvests were sold in bulk until the early 1990s.  Then, under the initiative of Mathieu, Leo’s son, the main architect of the San Donatino project, the decision was made to bottle and start marketing their own wine.

The Ferré family home is nestled on the western slope of a hill overlooking the woods and vineyards of Chianti Classico, at over 400 meters above sea level. More than just a house, it resembles a treasure trove filled with posters, paintings, records, albums, sheet music, concert tickets, and, of course, wine. It is the heart of the San Donatino estate, located on the outskirts of Castellina.

Initially overseen by Giulio Gambelli, followed by Federico Staderini, the company is now managed in all processes by Giovanni Stella, a young winemaker with several prestigious consulting experiences in Montalcino and Chianti Classico. The winery, certified organic since 2017, adopts a traditional approach where the influence of the terroir and the difference between vintages prevail over any form of wine standardization. Fermentations are not induced. The musts are all fermented by indigenous yeasts, macerations are prolonged, and the wines remain “sur lie” for several months. Base wines are aged only in steel while cru wines age in wood. As for vineyard management, which now encompasses 16 hectares, mechanical weeding, alternating legume cover crops, and manual harvesting in 18 kg crates are practiced.

Their vision is humble: Man can command nature only by obeying it. They accompany the grapes on their journey without altering the territorial imprinting they carry within.