Castello di Monsanto
Castello di Monsanto Wines
Aldo Bianchi, a native of San Gimignano, left Tuscany before the Second World War to seek fortune in the North of Italy. In 1960, he returned to the area for a wedding and was enchanted by the view from the terrace of Castello di Monsanto Wines: all of Val d’Elsa with the inimitable backdrop of the Towers of San Gimignano. It was love at first sight, which led him to purchase the property within a few months.
While Aldo was captivated by the landscape, his son Fabrizio immediately fell in love with the wines he discovered in the cellar. Thanks to a passion for wine handed down by his grandmother from Piedmont, and his innate entrepreneurial spirit, Fabrizio, together with the untiring help of his wife Giuliana, began planting new vineyards and converting the numerous farmhouses.
From this point, an incredible story of love, passion, and joy for wine—and everything connected with it—began, shaping the legacy of Castello di Monsanto Wines.
1962 – Castello di Monsanto Wines
In 1962, for the first time within the area of the Chianti Classico Denomination, Fabrizio vinified the grapes from the Il Poggio vineyard: the First Chianti Classico Cru was born.
In the meantime, innovations in the cellar did not fail to arrive : during the 70’s the use of fermenting steel containers started, substituting the wooden ones, where temperature control was much more difficult. In those same years, the use of chestnut barrels was substituted with those in Slavonia oak, with sweeter and less aggressive tannins.
1974 is also the year when experiments began in the vineyards of Castello di Monsanto Wines to produce a white Tuscan wine worthy of the company’s name. The Valdigallo vineyard was planted, which would later give life to the Fabrizio Bianchi Chardonnay.
In 1986, with great boldness and courage, work began on the construction of an underground tunnel at Castello di Monsanto Wines. Mario Secci, Giotto Cicionesi, and Romolo Bartalesi, who had already worked in the company for many years converting the farmhouses, took up the challenge: to hand-build 300 metres of an underground tunnel for storing wooden barrels, using only the marl stone from the ploughing of the vineyards, with the Medieval technique of arched wooden ribs to create a long and charming lowered Etruscan arch. In 1992, six years later, the work was completed, and their spirit and strength continue to live in the energy of this masterpiece.
In 1989, Laura, Fabrizio’s daughter, started to work in the company and gradually learned from the land, the people who worked it and her father, the marvels and difficulties of the natural evolutive process which transforms grapes into wine.
In 1996, another important innovation was introduced at Castello di Monsanto Wines: the traditional fermenting vats were replaced with truncated cone-shaped ones. This change fully exploits the convection of the liquids generated by their unique shape, achieving maximum extraction from the macerating peels using the “délèstage” system (emptying).
As from 2001, Laura and Fabrizio have been sided by the collaboration of a wine maker. From this encounter with Andrea Giovannini, a strong relationship was born where the energies coming from each one become synergies for the company, all going in the same direction.
The continuous experiments, the maximum research for quality, and the great attention to each and every detail of the production process, from the vineyard to the cellar, form the DNA of Castello di Monsanto Wines. This company is made up of people who, with their emotions and passions, accompany the ageing journey of this great gift from Mother Nature.
