It is a return to the land that of Ginevra, Benedetta and Michelangelo Piccini, the fifth generation of the historic Tuscan wine family. Born and raised among the vineyards, the three boys never forgot the rustle of the wind scattering the leaves, the crackle of the earth under their boots, the hiss of the shear cutting the vine shoot.
From here, Geneva, Benedetta and Michelangelo have beaten the most diverse paths, from marketing to finance to enology, giving body and vision to the romantic memories of childhood. After honing the tools of the trade under the wing of their father Mario, the three boys returned to the places where it all began, to apply their ideas and chart a new oenological itinerary. Thus was born “Generazione Vigneti,” the brand that brings together the Piccini family’s estates, highlighting the prominent role played by terroir, with the intention of writing the sequel to a winemaking adventure that has lasted more than 140 years.
If it is true that the past shapes the future, the new course of the fifth generation could only start at Fattoria di Valiano, the family’s estate perched among the hills of Chianti Classico. Here, among rows of vines that play hide-and-seek with the horizon and cypresses that tickle the sky, one breathes the air of old-fashioned Tuscany, the kind that made Goethe fall in love. Yet, in this postcard, the stillness is only apparent, because as Curzio Malaparte wrote: “l Tuscany is magical landscape where everything is kind around, everything is ancient and new“. So here it is that between the rows of Poggio Teo, Valiano’s exceptional cru, one can glimpse every morning the new hi-tech guardian of the vines: an automatic robot that inspects every inch of soil to prevent fungal diseases. The latest frontier in agri-tech, the robot is named after Icarus, the boy whose wax-capped wings dared to challenge the sun.
“Our Icarus, however,” explains Pasquale Presutto, the estate’s Technical Director, “this time, it has learned its lesson and no longer ventures toward the sun’s rays, but uses its wings, which are covered with panels, to irradiate the plants with UV-C rays and prevent, in a natural way, the onset of the most dreaded vine diseases, such as Downy mildew. An all-Italian brainchild, Icaro is powered by electricity, with a built-in GPS system that enables it to successfully navigate its way through the maze of vine rows. “
On the wings of Icarus, the fifth generation project flies into the future, respecting the environment and the deep connection with the land, cornerstone of “Generation Vineyards.“.
“This new technology,” Pasquale continues, “will allow us to continue on our path under the banner of environmental sustainability, inaugurated a few years ago with the complete conversion of our vineyards to organic status, in order to offer wines that know how to interpret terroir, while fully respecting the environment.“
The same philosophy also animates Tenuta Moraia, set in the untamed lands of the Tuscan Maremma that tumble into the waves of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Here, more than 20 years ago, began the love story between the Piccini family and this slice of land.
It is a placid summer day. The sun’s rays bathe the Tuscan hills overlooking the sea at Castiglion della Pescaia. Nestled in this paradise, Pierangiolo Piccini, the grandfather of the three boys, walks among the vines, letting his steps sink into the warmth of the earth. Suddenly he stops, inflates his lungs with the clear sea air and lets his eyes glide along the rhythmic ups and downs of the rows. In the space of a moment, the instinct to Pierangiolo anticipates agronomic calculations, scanning horizons that only an artist can imagine. Determined to pursue his intuition, Pierangiolo invests in these hills by acquiring Tenuta Moraia, the stroke of genius of a wine master.
Years later, his heirs continue to pay homage to their grandfather’s intuition, cultivating land that is now hailed by all as the new frontier of Tuscan wine. Cradled by the breath of the sea, the vines grow luxuriantly on the threshold of the forest, along a natural path that connects the Maremma hinterland to the sea. The 160 hectares, 60 of which are planted with vines, strictly organic, run above an exceptional soil that exalts Sangiovese and the most acclaimed international varieties.
From their interweaving come the renowned Supertuscan from the estate, including the iconic Perpiero, the fifth generation’s delicate tribute to their grandfather Pierangolo, which closes-even symbolically-a circle rooted in family history and the continuing desire to cultivate the future of Italian wine.