Castellare di Castellina: wines and prices

About Castellare di Castellina

In the heart of Chianti Classico, on the hills of Castellina in Chianti, Castellare di Castellina is one of the estates that did most to drive the region's quality revival from the 1970s onwards. It is owned by Paolo Panerai, a journalist and publisher, who has turned it into a research laboratory for Sangiovese, called here by its old name Sangioveto, and for native Tuscan grapes, working at length on clonal selection and on safeguarding the local viticultural heritage. The vineyards, arranged like an amphitheatre on galestro and alberese soils, enjoy good altitude and exposure. The labels, famous for bird drawings by a different artist each year, reflect the estate's commitment to protecting nature. Its emblematic wine is I Sodi di San Niccolò, one of the first great Tuscan reds from native grapes, made from Sangioveto with a small share of Malvasia Nera: an elegant, long-lived wine that anticipated by decades the rediscovery of pure Sangiovese.