VINEYARDS

Seen from the scenic road to Panzano in Chianti, Tenuta Casenuove is a handsome farmhouse-villa surrounded by neat vineyards whose rows adapt themselves to the landscape’s gentle folds.

It is a scene that has changed little since Piero Lorenzetti’s 14th-century depiction of the Tuscan countryside in Siena’s Palazzo Pubblico. Then as now, this harmony is rooted in a ceaseless effort to coax the best out of the land, working hand in hand with nature.

Part of this has to do with biodiversity: the estate’s 28 hectares under vine, which include just over ten dedicated to Sangiovese, are protected and nurtured by almost 70 hectares of woodland and olive groves. Facing south and south-west, the vines grow in deep, stony soils. Chianti’s famous galestro schist acts as a storage heater, helping the grapes achieve optimum ripeness, while calcareous clay layers retain moisture and preserve freshness and acidity, the backbone of our wines.

NATURE & NURTURE

We are committed adherents of closed-loop approaches to sustainability. We make fertilisers in-house from our own raw materials, pomace and pruning residue in order to drastically reduce the supply-chain carbon footprint.

In 2018, Tenuta Casenuove began to convert to full certified-organic winemaking. In the same year, it joined the local consortium, the Unione Viticoltori di Panzano, Tuscany’s first wine-oriented biodistretto or ‘organic district’. We use no herbicides or synthetic fertilisers.
Planted between the vine rows, legumes, cereals and vetch keep the soil healthy and provide green compost. Harvesting takes place entirely by hand, in small crates designed to minimise grape compression.
Restoration & renewal
Beginning in 2016, the estate’s existing vines were returned to heath and new vines were planted, following careful soil analysis and clonal selection.
These include Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and traditional Chianti blend varieties Canaiolo, Ciliegolo and Colorino. Tenuta Casenuove has also restored an area of semi-abandoned dry-stone-wall terraces, built and maintained over the centuries to favour water retention and help combat soil erosion.
These have been planted with native varieties, bush-trained according to the traditional alberello lamolese method.

CELLAR

At Tenuta Casenuove, a state-of-the-art winemaking facility has been custom designed to fit perfectly into a traditional Tuscan wood-beamed building, so precisely that every centimetre counts.
Conceived in close collaboration with the winemaking team and installed in time for the 2018 harvest, Tenuta Casenuove’s cellar reflects the estate’s conviction that great wines derive from perfectly mature grapes that are manipulated as little as possible.
After hand-picking and destemming, the grapes are gravity fed into the raw concrete tanks where fermentation and maceration take place. What happens next depends on the wine, the year and several other variables. Freshness, however, is a constant goal: we aim never to let wood overpower what sun, soil, rain and green nutrients bring to the glass.