It is a noble country residence which openly declares its fortified origins. This is how we see Cacchiano when we get: here as guests of young owner, Giovanni Ricasoli Firidolfi, the president of the Foundation and the League of the Chianti and the last but one generation (as he has a small son) of a branch of the famous family. The Baron spends his life partly in the family palace in Via Maggio, Florence and partly inside of this splendid fortification which was built more than 1000 years ago on the hills of Monti in Chianti. This is a crucial point where the Florentines and the Sienese fought each other in battle for long periods and where wine has always been the undisputed protagonist of the agricultural economy. But the wine growers of Cacchiano carried out the activity with entrepreneurial concepts only in 1974. It was Baron Alberto and his spouse, Elisabetta Balbi Valier, who created the first label, the Chianti Classico Castello di Cacchiano. The management of the estate has now been handed down to their son, Giovanni, who has made important investments in the vineyards and in the cellars. In a property which stretches for about 200 hectares, 31 cultivated with vineyards and 35 with olive groves, this young entrepreneur is aiming at the maximum improvement of his production. But let us ask him to tell the story: “I’m convinced that the high quality of the end product should be the result of careful work on the vines and of a correct interpretation of the terroir which distinguishes one area from another and defines the characteristics of individual vintages. We are trying to obtain an increasingly more typical, recognizable wine.”
We visit the cellars for making and maturing wine, cellars which have recently been renewed and we stop for a toast with a couple of bottles which draw our attention as curious wine lovers. The Baron himself acts as host and offers us a grand cru where he has skillfully uncorked the right quantity for a sampling of Chianti Classico Castello di Cacchiano. It is a wine where the harsh and tannic taste of Sangiovese is mellowed with other grapes among which we seem to recognize the vinous, fruity fragrance of Merlot. We ask him which ones they are, as we cannot smell the unmistakable aristocratic but somewhat conditioning touch of Cabernet
Sauvinon. “90% Sangiovese, 5% Merlot, 5% Canaiolo, Black Malvasia and Colorino” is the answer. With an inviting smile, Giovanni Ricasoli offers us another glass of wine to taste. It is a rich wine with a persistent and complex bouquet. It is a wine with an eccentric personality but in this case too we can observe the absence of Cabernet. We ask him if it only contains Sangiovese. This time, we are not happy with it. “90% Sangiovese, 10% Canaiolo, black Malvasia and Corodino, a very Tuscan wine of the new generation”, answers the Baron. The Millennium is, no doubt, the most aristocratic label of the firm. Maybe it is just because of this courageous choice of not including Cabernet in his wines and focusing mainly on a maximum improvement obtained from traditional grapes that the work carried out until now by Giovanni Ricasoli has already been appreciated by experts as one of the most interesting and innovative in the sector of wine production.

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See also:

The Castle Of Gabbiano in Chianti, The Antinori Family Wine Producers, Antinori: Wine Makers for 800 Years, Mazzei of Fonterutoli Chianti Makers, Volpaia: a Wine, a Hamlet, Colle Bereto in Florence, The Small Vineyard of Colle Bereto, The Great Montevertine: a Small Winegrower, Albola by Zonin, Castello Brolio of Ricasoli Firidolfi, Colombaio di Cencio Tech Wine, San Felice Chianti Hamlet

or go back to Chianti Wine Producing Estates