Belgian (Flemish) by origin, born in 1993, James Marshall-Lockyer’s maternal grandfather Jacques de Liedekerke bought the 61ha Tenuta Licinia estate in the 1970s having been lured to Tuscany by Italian bureaucrats based in the newly established European Commission in Brussels. Being close to his grandfather, James grew up between Belgium, Switzerland, & UK, but it was at the estate he found solace & inspiration, eventually taking over from his grandfather. Given the opportunity to pursue a career in academia or viticulture, he chose the latter, taking up the trowel in 2020 & becoming the winemaker, increasing the vineyard size to 6.5ha, alongside the 60ha of forest.
James’s first vintage was 2021, & compared to his grandfather’s approach: no chemical fertiliser, no topping (except Petit Verdot in wetter years); harvesting at the perfect moment according to taste not analysis; less extraction; the use of less & marginally bigger oak, tonneaux vs barriques; work biodynamically since 2021, notably in the use of 500, 501, Valerian, Equisetum, Camomile (& applying his background in meta-physics to decision-making). The estate has been certified organic since 2012, helped no doubt by its remote location down a long track off the main road to Lucignano.
The estate lies in the Val di Chiana, an ancient Etruscan area, near the delightful village of Lucignano, known as ‘Licinia’ in Roman times, adjacent to the Castello di Calcione, located halfway between Siena & Arezzo, on a fault-line where, as he explained, “slopes seem to fold into each other”, creating a wave effect that lent its name to their top single vineyard Cabernet Franc, Onda, of which they make c.1k bts/anno, vintage allowing.
Italian writer & film Director, Mario Soldati, referred to the Calcione estate on which Tenuta Licinia is located, in his 1969 libro ‘Vino al Vino – Viaggo alla ricerca dei vini genuini’ (Mondadori): ‘Alla tenuta del Calcione, presso Lucignano, sempre in Val di Chiana, facciamo la conocenza del vero vino di queste parte: cosi vero, ma cosi vero che non si trova in commercio: il quantitativo prodotto nella tenuta non sarebbe sufficiente. Vino privato, riservato a quelli chi lo fanno e ai loro amici. Ma proprio per questo, assolutamente incorrotto, antico, eccelso.’ (At the Tenuta di Calcione, near Lucignano, in the Val di Chiana, we come across a real wine of this region: so real indeed that you don’t find on the market: the quantity produced would not be enough (to meet demand). A reserved wine for those who produce it, & their friends. And it’s for this very reason (the wine remains) uncorrupted, ancient, excellent.’)
The soils lying round the cantina, whose vines lie in a natural anfiteatro at circa 350m asl, are predominantly weathered old grey friable galestro/slate, clay & calcareous little stones; James is also farming one plot nearby with outcrops of volcanic, Etna-like lava in one vyd, & another that is more clay, schist & calcareo. Being close to Arezzo & the Apennines, Tenuta Licinia enjoys a more continental climate than Montalcino (that’s influenced by Maremma), bringing with cleaner mountain air, fresh & crisp, & lots of light; October vintage nights can be below 10 degrees while warming up to 25 by day (as per the Langhe); winters are much colder than further west towards the coast, freezing most nights between late December & mid February. Summers can peak at 40 degrees.
The estate stands alone, without any DOCGs or famous points of reference nearby; a fact not lost on their budding single vyd Sangiovese, L’Isolato (2k bts/anno) Their core vineyard is called Sasso di Fata, a reference to a rock hidden in a nearby forest; from this vyd, strewn with galestro, alberese, arenaria & calcareous clay, James micro selects & fillets the plot to create a blend of twenty-year old Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, & Merlot (6k bts) There’s an estate label, Montepolli, so named after the Etruscan settlement nearby, which brings together a broader palette of fruit from across the domaine: Cabernet Sauvignon, Franc, Merlot, & a dash of Petit Verdot.
Stainless-steel conical fermenters for Montepolli, cement for Sasso di Fata, & tonneaux for Onda. Affinamento is in 500L tonneaux for the Bordeaux varieties, & Taransaud 20HL botte for the Sangiovese L’Isolato, followed a spell in vertical tulip cement tanks prior to bottling c. 18 mths after the harvest; 2023 vintage (13.5%) to be bottled with the new luna in April 2025.
Located on the coast of Abruzzo, north of Pescara in the province of Teramo, in Colleranesco near the (shellfishing) port of Giulianova, the Faraone family produce classic Abruzzo wines from circa 12ha.
The family property is focused around one valley that runs perpendicular to the Adriatic coast & two vineyards, ‘Convento’ & ‘Collepietro’ in the comune of Mosciano Sant’Angelo, part of the Colli Aprutini zone. ‘Convento’ with pergola/tendone Montepulciano vines – planted with the R7 clone – while ‘Collepietro’, bought by padre Giovanni in 2000, is made up of filari/rows. They have been organic since 2015. They do not fertilize nor irrigate unless absolutely necessary.
The family Faraone’s story dates back to 1916, & particularly to the 1930s when the family first planted Montepulciano, Sangiovese & Passerina – a variety locally known as ‘Trebbiano Teramano’. Bottling started in 1970 with the family’s first bottle of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, & then in 1972 with Trebbiano d’Abruzzo. Giovanni “Nino” Faraone, padre of Federico the current titolare & his brother Alfonso, was inspired by his honeymoon to Champagne with his wife Paola that in 1979 he began producing metodo classico from Passerina grapes, before receiving official authorization in 1983.
Son Federico studied enologia in Friuli Venezia Giulia, before working in France, New Zealand, & Umbria, joining his father in 2014, then in 2017 as a partner, before the premature scomparso of Giovanni in 2019. Since 2020 Federico has been working hard to produce wines that display more fruit, definition & distinction, while producing more Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo to meet demand, drawing on the quality of the local, tendone-trellised Montepulciano fruit, & for which the family’s pale campari-red Cerasuolo style has become a point of reference for all Cerasuolo producers.
They also make a late release Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Colline Teramane DOCG (since 2003) from Collepietro (filari) fruit that ages for 48 months in 35HL recently regenerated botti grande.
And of course there’s the Dosaggio Zero Metodo Classico Spumante from Passerina, & now a Rosé Spumante made from Sangiovese.
Perched high up & steeply behind the città of Sondrio, capitale of the Valtellina, is found the comune di Montagna in Valtellina. The village is famous for its impressive, 120ha cru Grumello, which faces pure South on broad terraces of granite & morenic, stony soils. The Gianatti family farm a prime, 100 year old, 2ha parcel, vigneto Sassina, & have been doing so for almeno due hundred years. The vines are planted with Chiavennasca, plus 5% Rossola & Pignola (both relatives of Nebbiolo/Chiavennasca). Irrigation is only used in emergency.
Giorgio is the latest in a long line of Gianatti, following in the footsteps of his bisnonno Giorgio, nonno Giuseppe, & papa Silvio, joining the family farm in 1978. Indeed it was Giorgio (nato ’62) who initiated the first bottlings in 1983. Alongside him are his wife Cristina, & figlia Cecilia.
Giorgio makes classic Valtellina Superiore Grumello vigneto Sassina (labeled as such since 2017) – broad & emphatic, with fine tannins – plus a Rosso di Valtellina too. The wines are traditionally made, using stainless-steel & botte grande ageing, for circa 18 mths in the case of the Valtellina Superiore. Despite completing a new bottle store in the centre of the village, Giorgio does not release each vintage, but only the ones he likes! He prefers to offer older vintages to the market; ones that have benefited from time in bottle.
Giorgio is a proud member of FIVI (Federazione ItalianaVignaoli Indipendenti).
Introducing Stefano Campaniello of cantina Morra Gabriele, a talented bright-eyed Romano who grew up near Milano, moving to London to continue his work as a Sommelier before heading off to Burgundy to work for a year in the vyds of Boillot, Volnay, & then on to Muga, Rioja, returning to Italia with a plan to set up on his own, in proprio.
In 2012 Stefano met Gabriele Testa, a keen (bianco!) trifulau & grandson of Morra Gabriele, & together they revived the nonno’s cantina in the comune di Macellai di Pocapaglia, with Barbera & Freisa vyds nearby.
In 2015 Stefano began renting their first Nebbiolo da Barbaresco vyd: a prime 0.3ha old vine Ovello (west facing), & then the cooler East facing part of Ovello (1ha of old vine vigna Bernino) adjacent to Montefico. From 2021 vyd they added 1ha of Fausoni above Neive (near San Cristoforo). And then in 2022: Starderi also in Neive. A total then of 1.9ha of Nebbiolo da Barbaresco vyds planted to Michet, Lampia, & clone 401.
The soils vary from clay-rich marne in Ovello, to blue marne in Bernino, limestone sandy marne soils of Fausoni, & to warmer sand in Starderi…lending Ovello presence/weight, Bernino spine/sapidità, Fausoni rose aromatics, & Starderi fruit!
Stefano tends the vines & makes the Barbaresco, blending destalked Nebbiolo fruit from the four vyds (Ovello, Bernino, Fausoni, & Starderi), the proportions varying according to the vintage (2021: 60% Bernino, Fausoni 25%, 15% Ovello) in stainless-steel, using pied de cuve/spontaneous yeast ferments, with circa 25 day pumping over (less in 2023), & cappello sommerso/submerged cap in exceptional years (in 2021), before ageing the wines for up to 14 months in ten year old, non-toasted 30HL Stockinger botte grande.
Meanwhile, at their Macellai di Pocapaglia cantina, that’s equipped with a battery of cement tanks & tonneaux, Stefano makes two Langhe Nebbiolos from their Barbaresco vyds: one a classic expression of Nebbiolo fruit, the other, more layered – Foravia (off pista!) – with 60% whole bunch vinified in cement. Plus he makes a juicy Langhe Rosso (Nebbiolo/0.3ha Freisa), a marnoso Chardonnay from 0.3ha vyd Fausoni, & 1ha of Barbera from Macellai.
Spectacular ruins of a Roman pillar were dug up in the vineyards in 2000, sculpted out of the local limestone ‘pietra di Cantoni’. Cantine Valpane of Ozzano Monferrato with its vineyards & crops was first documented/mapped in 1794, but it wasn’t until 1902 that Pietro Arditi’s medical/veterinario family from Torino bought this Monferrato Casalese cascina of 24ha (10.5ha vineyards), installing state-of-the-art cement tanks in the 1930s. The first commercial label appearing in 1991, when Pietro joined his zia Lydia, who actively managed the estate until her mancanza in 2002, having taken over from her father & fondatore Pietro Giuseppe Arditi (“Giuspin”).
The cascina lies on the breezy coll that effectively links Monte Rosa & Cervinia with the Ligurian Alps & Genova, on the crossroads of four comuni: Cellamonte, Sala Monferrato, Treville, & Ozzano Monferrato. The terreno here is a ‘caotico complesso‘ of marne sant’agata fossili & argilla at circa 260m asl; the Grignolino vines lying on the marne sant’agata soils, while the Freisa favours the ‘pietra di Cantoni’ limestone soils. The name of the vineyard is ‘Euli’, after the German for owl, as Pavia nearby was the capital of the (German) Longobardo kingdom during the Middles Ages. The 10.5ha made up of Barbera, Grignolino, & Freisa. Pietro has always farmed organically, as he consumes his own produce, & maintains a beautiful prato/meadow in the heart of the natural anfiteatro.
In their fine 18th century, naturally insulated cellar, Pietro uses cement & stainless steel for vinification, giving the wines plenty of time in bottle prior to release. He makes one, 100% Grignolino del Monferrato Casalese, two or three Barbera del Monferrato (Superiore), & a fine Freisa del Monferrato. His Barbera del Monferrato Superiore ‘Valpane’ is blended with 15% Freisa, & is the only wine that sees oak.
Halfway between the Basso (Roero & Langhe) & Alto Piemonte, just to the east of Torino, lies the spectacular fifty-five hectare region of Albugnano DOC, centred on the comune of the same name at its apex of 549m asl. The terreno here is ancient Miocenic arenaria, argilla, calcareo, gesso (gypsum), plus a scattering of greenstone/igneous ‘pietra di Serpentite‘ from Mte Monviso. The region is spread over four comunes of the Alto Monferrato: Albugnano, Pino d’Asti, Castelnuovo Don Bosco, e Passerano-Marmorito.
It was Evasio (Roggero), born in 1850, & his son Prospero, who planted the first vines (Barbera & Freisa) at the end of the 1800s; the wine in those days being delivered in a barrel (“butalin”/botte di legno) by Prospero to private customers on the back of his cart (‘cartun’/carro). Alas, during the 1920s the Roggero vineyards were destroyed by phylloxera, forcing Mario, back from the war, to replant in the post-war years. Their first vineyard of Nebbiolo was planted in 1969. Mario replaced the cart with a second-hand van, with which to transport his wine, now in demi-john (damigiana), to thirsty customers in Torino. Since the 1980s, Bruno & his fratello Marco have continued Mario’s legacy, & were among the founding fathers of the new Albugnano DOC in 1997.
The Roggero family now farm 7ha in the Albugnano frazione of Vallana, of which 1.5ha at circa 380m asl is devoted to Nebbiolo for making Albugnano DOC. They also grow local variety Montanera (Dousèt Vej), Grignolino, Friesa, Barbera, & Viognier.
And since 2017, Bruno’s son Mauro has taken over responsibility for the wines, having graduated in enologia e agronomia, while in 2023 his sorella Marina joined him as ‘Marketing Direttrice‘!
The Albugnano DOC disciplinare allows the addition of 15% Freisa/Barbera/Bonarda in the final wine. In 2023 they began ageing their 100% Nebbiolo, Albugnano DOC ‘Bric Carvè’ (Bricco Carnevale) in 20HL botte grande for the first time, while their Albugnano DOC ‘Il Giglio’ 2023 blended 93% Nebbiolo & 7% Freisa.
High up the Val Curone valley, at the entrance to the comune of Brignano-Frascata, with vines at circa 300m asl among the Colli Tortonesi on calcareous clay (marne sant’agata fossili) soils, the Poggio family is now on its fourth generation with the return of figlio Matteo from his vinous travels in Gennaio 2024. He follows in the footsteps of bisnonno Giuseppe, nonno Desiderio (‘Derio’), e padre Paolo.
In the early 1900s, Giuseppe Poggio began selling ‘vino bianco‘ to Swiss & German customers. The family first planted Timorasso in 1989, using the family’s plant material dating back 100 years. In the 1990s it was Giuseppe’s grandson Paolo who recognized the potential of Timorasso, a variety tightly linked to their territorio, & who initiated the first commercial bottlings. Paolo also began replanting the 15ha estate in 2008 & then in 2020.
They vinify their (Derthona) Timorasso in stainless-steel, allowing the wines to go through malolactic fermentation & then bottling the new vintage 12 months after the harvest, in September. From vintage 2022 they have released tiny quantities of 1989-planted Timorasso ‘Ronchetto’ that enjoys a further year in bt prior to release.
They also produce small quantities of Croatina, Barbera, & Cortese.
Located in the Monferrato Casalese comune of Vignale Monferrato, NE of Asti, the family cantina of Carlo Santopietro takes their name from the single vyd Il Mongetto that lies in the frazione of the same name. The vineyard sits on a block of marne sant’agata fossili, rich with limo (54%), argilla calcareo (31%), & sabbia (15%), with an alkaline pH of 8.0; detto ‘franco limoso agrilloso’, it appears to be the perfect environment for growing Grignolino. The cantina is also famous for their old vine Barbera, grown on the single site Guera. Plus they have a small plot of Malvasia di Casorza, a red grape.
Bottling began in 1979, with Carlo Santopietro joining the family business in 1982. They have 10ha of vines, divided up between four vyds in the comune of Vignale Monferrato: Il Mongetto, Rudifra’, Guera, & Solin. Vinification takes place in cimento, using selected yeasts for security, the Grignolino skins being racked off after a week, along with the infamous vinaccioli, with fermentation completed without, while the Barbera is affinato in barriques, some new.
Carlo looks for full phenolic maturity in all his fruit, not least Grignolino with its plentiful ‘grignole‘ (seeds), facilitated by the calcareo soils, & assisted by low pH (minerally) must. Since 2007, working alongside Carlo is the talented enologo, Dott. Umberto Lucano. They make circa 6k bts/anno of Grignolino del Monferrato Casalese, closed with sughero & DIAM; however in 2023 the Grignolino harvested was destroyed by hail. Carlo also makes a tiny quantity of metodo classico from Grignolino vinificato in bianco, which enjoys 26 mesi on its fine lies prior to release.
Located in the Monferrato comune of Agliano Terme, an ancient paese famous for its magnesium-rich thermal springs & Barbera grapes, seventh generation Samuele CASTINO started working alongside his padre Angelo & zio in 2020, having graduated in agronomia e enologia in Alba/Turin, then gained experience in Bordeaux, Burgundy, & Priorat. The family cantina was founded in 1854, with customers principally in Turin & Asti, & until recently was buying in fruit & wine, vinified in a series of old 50HL cement tanks, to supplement their 6ha in order to supply a local market.
The family cantina lies on a ridge between frazioni Bansella-Banchetti, Dani-Scorrone, & Vignole south-east of the village, on gently sloping calc-clay, gypsum, & sandy/limo soils. The 6ha is divided up between Barbera (3.5ha), Grignolino, Nebbiolo, & Cortese. Agliano Terme is the most western comune of Nizza DOCG, & one of 18 that form part of the territory; indeed the family make a Nizza DOCG from a small south-facing plot planted in 1992. They have some ancient (& younger) Grignolino vines, & in 2016 they planted their first Monferrato Nebbiolo vines. They also have a Barbera vineyard in the sand-rich comune of Mombercelli.
On joining his family, Samuele stopped the practice of using herbicides, & renovated the existing tino & botti grandi. He uses selective yeast, has introduced new tonneaux, & he prefers to vinify his Grignolino d’Asti without malolactic fermentation so as to retain as much freshness as possible.
The family recently invested in a GAI bottling machine, & they are trialling DIAM & Stelvin screw-cap closures, along with cork.