Storia
From quarry to wine estate
Tenuta Meraviglia occupies the higher part of the Bolgheri property, above the adjoining coastal estate of Tenuta Le Colonne. It is a comparatively young wine project shaped around the relationship between the hillside, Mediterranean vegetation, sea and wind.
The estate's contemporary history is inseparable from the Cava di Cariola. Rhyolite was extracted from this quarry until the 1980s. After extraction ended, the abandoned site remained degraded for many years.
The ABFV Italia project
In 2012, Italian-Argentine entrepreneur Alejandro Pedro Bulgheroni acquired Dievole and began developing a network of Tuscan wine estates through ABFV Italia. Tenuta Meraviglia subsequently became one of the Bolgheri projects operated under Società Agricola Dievole S.p.A.
Parcel and soil research became a central part of the new ownership's work. From 2014, the company began a broad programme of vineyard renewal and restructuring. In the Castagneto Carducci vineyards, new plantings concentrated principally on Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, while training systems were progressively changed from spur-pruned cordon to Guyot. The entire agricultural surface operated by Dievole S.p.A., including its Bolgheri holdings, has been certified organic by ICEA since 2014.
Emergence of the wine range
Tenuta Meraviglia's Maestro di Cava Bolgheri DOC Superiore was presented in preview at Vinitaly in April 2019. The wine is made entirely from Cabernet Franc and became the estate's reference expression of that variety.
The current range comprises three Bolgheri wines: Botro dei Fichi Bolgheri Vermentino DOC, Bolgheri Rosso DOC and Maestro di Cava Bolgheri Superiore DOC.
Renewal of I Pianali
The higher vineyards culminate at I Pianali, 150 metres above sea level. In 2023, the Castagneto Carducci vineyard-renewal programme completed an 8.822-hectare planting called Pianali 2021 on land that had previously been under vine. No further new vineyard was planted in 2024.
Cantina Meraviglia
The abandoned Cava di Cariola was reclaimed through a multi-year construction project that converted the quarry into a working winery. Construction was still under way in 2024, with completion then planned for June 2025. The resulting Cantina Meraviglia has since opened to visitors.
The project restored a previously degraded industrial landscape while using the quarry itself as part of the winery's environmental design. Its 7,000 square metres of production space are integrated into the rock. The rock's thermal inertia and steady release of humidity provide naturally stable conditions for vinification and maturation. The complex includes a vinification room, barrel hall, panoramic rooms and a terrace overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea and Tuscan Archipelago.
Terroir
Tenuta Meraviglia occupies the higher part of the Bolgheri property in Castagneto Carducci and looks down towards the Tyrrhenian Sea. Together with adjoining Tenuta Le Colonne, it lies close to the coast and only a short distance from the beach.
The vineyards rise from the coastal area to I Pianali, the estate's highest and most panoramic point at 150 metres above sea level. They occupy different elevations and exposures and receive regular sea breezes. From I Pianali, the landscape opens towards the sea, the Tuscan Archipelago and the meeting point of coastal hills and mountains.
The vineyard soils around I Pianali are sandy and of volcanic origin. Rhyolite is also a defining geological and architectural element at the Cava di Cariola, where the winery has been built into the former quarry.
Mediterranean scrub surrounds the property between the I Pianali plateau and the Etruscan Coast. The wider Castagneto Carducci holding contains holm oak, maritime pine, broom, viburnum and cork oak, including some centuries-old cork trees. Sun, wind, maritime influence and Mediterranean vegetation form the principal elements of Tenuta Meraviglia's stated territorial identity.
Vinificazione
Tenuta Meraviglia is farmed within the organic programme of Società Agricola Dievole S.p.A. The entire company surface has been certified organic by ICEA since 2014 in accordance with EU Regulation 2018/848 and its predecessor regulations. The programme seeks to keep vines naturally balanced and resilient so that interventions can be reduced.
Herbicides are not used. Vineyard inter-rows remain permanently grassed, while the strip beneath the vines is managed mechanically or manually. Phacelia, clover and sulla are among the melliferous plants used for green manure and to support pollinating insects.
Post-harvest soil work is performed on alternating rows with a decompactor that preserves the order of the soil layers and protects soil microflora and microfauna. The worked row is either sown with a green-manure crop or allowed to develop spontaneous vegetation. It is then left without traffic until spring mowing. Cut vegetation is shredded and incorporated after flowering, supplying organic matter for microbial activity while allowing pollinators to complete their work.
The vineyard-management plan aims for vegetative and productive balance without routine fertiliser use. Natural mineralisation of organic matter supplies nitrogen gradually. Any large-scale fertilisation must comply with organic rules and be documented in the cultivation record with technical approval. Bovine manure was used in the vineyards in 2024 as a soil amendment and fertiliser.
Irrigation is not practised. Maintaining soft, aerated soil is intended to encourage deep rooting and access to moisture during dry periods.
Soils are studied by analysing particle size, pH, cation-exchange capacity, organic matter, total and active limestone, total nitrogen, exchangeable potassium and available phosphorus. Organic matter, nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus measurements are repeated every four years within the company monitoring programme.
Vineyard renewal in Castagneto Carducci has favoured Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Training has progressively changed from spur-pruned cordon to Guyot, selected for leaf exposure, vine longevity and compatibility with mechanised harvesting. New sites are preferably prepared with a ripper to decompact the ground without overturning its layers. Where excessive stones prevent this, fertile topsoil is first set aside, stones are removed and reused for drainage, and the topsoil is then replaced.
The Castagneto Carducci agricultural unit is approximately 72% semi-natural land and includes about 170 hectares of woodland. Uncultivated and semi-natural areas are maintained for insect habitat and worked only in summer when required for fire prevention. Small woods are retained within vineyard areas. Grassed headlands create buffers between vines, woods and semi-natural land, while vegetation around drainage ditches and channels is cut after flowering to protect insect life.
Captures of Scaphoideus titanus and Lobesia botrana are monitored and recorded annually. During autumn and winter 2023–2024, 65 hectares of the Castagneto Carducci vineyards were sown with field beans, organic flower mixtures and other organic green-manure mixtures; these were mown and shredded in spring 2024.
Cantina Meraviglia occupies 7,000 m² inside the former Cava di Cariola. Rather than standing apart from its setting, the production complex is integrated into the rhyolite quarry and Mediterranean vegetation. The surrounding rock provides thermal inertia and releases humidity steadily, creating naturally stable conditions for vinification and maturation.
The vinification room is equipped with large tulip-shaped vats made from unfinished concrete. The barrel hall uses large French-oak casks. This application of large-format oak to the international varieties grown at Bolgheri forms part of a broader exchange of practices between the ABFV Italia estates, while concrete is used as a continuing field of experimentation across grape varieties.
Stems may be retained during vinification, particularly in warmer vintages, to restore freshness that might otherwise be diminished by intense sun. This approach is applied to Cabernet and Merlot grown in Bolgheri.
The quarry winery was conceived to consolidate production and logistics previously divided among several Castagneto Carducci facilities, reducing the need to move bulk wine between sites. Its development plan included 120 kWh of solar panels. Winemaking by-products are recovered through sale or agricultural reuse, while grape pomace is sent to the Bonollo distillery.
Filosofia
Tenuta Meraviglia presents wine as an expression of the place in which its vines grow, beginning with respect for the soil and the plants. Its approach combines sustainable viticulture with restrained, natural-minded cellar work intended to preserve the wine's original character.
The estate's identity is framed by sun, wind, sea and Mediterranean vegetation. Its aim is to translate those elements into authentic aromas and flavours rather than impose a predetermined style. Cabernet Franc has a central role in that interpretation of Bolgheri.
Within ABFV Italia, quality is linked to clean, regenerative agriculture, low environmental impact and the expression of individual territories and micro-territories. Soil vitality, balanced vines and deep root systems are treated as the foundation of both resilience and wine quality.
The quarry winery extends this principle to architecture. The building is integrated into an existing rock formation and a reclaimed industrial site, allowing nature to remain the dominant visual and functional element. Safety and practical production requirements are combined with the goal of adding value to a protected landscape rather than competing with it.