The Principessa is Coralia Pignatelli della Leonessa, the owner and driving force behind Castell'in Villa for decades now. She is a thoughtful, philosophical winemaker who takes her time to understand everything, to get everything just right. She makes Chianti Classico, but she seems to have no blind spots at all. She decided she just couldn't appreciate the Argentine Malbecs she tasted, but her response wasn't to trash talk them or ignore them.

No, she travelled to Argentina to study them. And there she learned a good lesson: the wineries that rushed their vines' growth with too much irrigation ended up with simpler, characterless wines. The producers she found who took their time made wines of distinctly greater character.

Which affirmed the way Castell'in Villa has always done things: traditionally, with nothing rushed, nothing forced. The farming is old fashioned, the fermentations are with indigenous yeasts, the aging is in old, neutral oak. And the wine waits until it is ready to be drunk, not rushed to meet the hype for the latest vintage.

What importer Polaner Selections has to say about this wine...

Vineyard
Sourced from their best vineyards within their property - at the southeast corner of Castelnuovo Berardenga.
Orientation
Altitude approximately 300m in elevation.
Soil
Alluvial soil with pebbles and a mixture of lime, clay and sand.
Viticulture
Hand harvested between the second half of September and early October.
Vinification
Natural fermentation with native yeast in stainless steel tanks for 12-14 days.
Aging
Aged in large Slavonian oak for 24 to 36 months.