Selvapiana, a beautiful watchtower located in the northeastern part of Italy’s Florence city. Earlier a residence of the nobles, this estate was purchased by Michele Giuntini, who started preparing the estate for setting up vines. His successor, Francesco Giuntini, played a vital role in making Selvapiana one of the popular Italian wine brands.
He controlled the estate and the vineyards for forty years, during which time he understood the wine-producing potential of the Rufina appellation. It was also this time when this became the first wine brand in Italy to produce a Riserva wine using 100% Sangiovese grapes grown on a single vineyard of Bucerchiale. Today, Francesco’s adopted sons, Federico and Silvia are currently managing the vineyards.
The Selvapiana estate owns over 250 hectares today. Out of these, a whopping 140 hectares are dedicated to wood & forests. While 36 hectares are dedicated to growing olive trees, 58 hectares are under vine. This land is spread across three premium appellations of Rufina, Pontassieve and Pelago. The grapes grown in Rufina are known for their fresh acidic nature, because of the location of the vineyards at the base of the Apennines Mountains.
Sustainable and biodynamic viticultural practices are followed in the organic vineyards to exercise minimal intervention in the winemaking process. A new cellar was opened in 2005, exclusively for vinification purposes. This was to retain the flavours and aromas of the fruits. Modern, temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks were used for vinification.
The Francesco Giuntini is the flagship wine of Selvapiana. It is made from 100% Sangiovese grapes that are carefully selected. Only those grapes that represent the rich terroirs of Rufina and Selvapiana appellations are used for this.
The Selvapiana Chianti Rufina is another popular wine that is made using 95% Sangiovese and 5% of Canaiolo Colorina and Malvasia Nera grown on all the vineyards at Rufina, with the exclusion of the Bucerchiale vineyard.
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