Felsina

Fattoria di Felsina has long been one of the great names in Tuscany. Based in the Chianti Classico region, Felsina produces one of the finest ranges of ageworthy and complex Chianti bottlings in all of Italy. They grow solely Sangiovese here and their elegant yet intensely flavored Chiantis place them firmly among the top handful of Chianti producers.

It was 1966 when Domenico Poggiali Felsina took the courageous leap and bought the estate at a time when Italian viticultore was struggling. He chose to invest in the quality of the wine and the expertise of a young team. In the space of a few years, the vineyards grew to more than forty hectares, and the soul and organization of the company changed, as well.

In the second half of the 1970s Giuseppe Mazzocolin entered the family business with the task of commercial development. Their friendship with Luigi Veronelli and collaboration with oenologist Franco Bernabei shaped a developmental strategy that has proven itself extremely coherent starting with the wines of 1983, the first year of Fontalloro and of Rancia, up to the present day. With Domenico and Giuseppe Poggiali at the helm, an extraordinary development began which, since 1990, also includes Giovanni Poggiali, the oldest of Giuseppe’s three sons.

Fattoria di Felsina have a profound respect for the Tuscan traditions of yesterday, and the estate continues to champion Sangiovese using only old “massale” selections cultivated from cuttings from their top old vineyards. The vineyards are farmed organically and the average age of the Sangiovese vines at Felsina is remarkably old, with the normal bottling of the Chianti Classico hailing from vineyards that average fully thirty years of age. The two distinct Riserva Chianti bottlings are made from vines in excess of fifty years of age. These old vine Chiantis are routinely amongst the most cellar-worthy wines made in the region, and have no difficulty aging and improving in the bottle over ten to fifteen years in any top vintage.