Montecalvi

From Castello di Uzzano to an independent estate

Wine has been made at Montecalvi since the 1400s. For centuries the property formed part of the Castello di Uzzano estate. The castello belonged at one stage to Niccolò da Uzzano, a Florentine political figure of the Medici period, and later to Count Castelbarco.

Agriculture was organized through the mezzadria sharecropping system: local farmers cultivated the land and divided each year's harvest with the castello. Le Terrazze, planted in 1932 on steep dry-stone terraces, served Castello di Uzzano as a source or planting school for vines used across its properties. Its mixed population of old Italian varieties survives as a record of that period.

Independence and the Bolli period

Montecalvi became an independent estate in the 1980s. The Bolli family guided it for approximately three decades. Jacqueline Bolli was still presenting the property and its wines when Karen and Jim Drake first visited in April 2017.

The modern vineyard structure developed during this period. Sangiovese was planted in Montecalvi Alto and Montecalvi Basso in 1990; Stefano Chioccioli advised on the planting of Montecalvi Alto. San Piero followed in 2003 with Cabernet Sauvignon, and Montecalvi Bosco was planted in 2006 with Canaiolo and Canina Nera.

The Drake family and the 2017 renewal

Karen and Jim Drake had searched throughout Italy for a northern-hemisphere vineyard for five to seven years. Karen has Abruzzese family roots, while Jim's Italian ancestry is from Udine. Their first visit to Montecalvi was in April 2017. A tasting of VV 2014, made from the old vines of Le Terrazze, helped convince them to acquire the estate that year.

The Drake family, whose background combines Australian and American origins and who also owned the Collalto estate in Australia, retained Montecalvi's established staff and began a broad renewal. Their priorities included upgrading the vineyards, restoring old vines, replanting with native Italian varieties, moving the estate into certified organic production and developing a more restrained approach in the cellar. Tim Manning was brought in as winemaker and led the first phase of the cellar's renewal.

Vineyard renewal and preservation

Il Pozzo was planted exclusively with Ciliegiolo in 2019. Around the same time, an approximately one-acre block suffering from persistently wet soil was removed. In spring 2020 it was replanted with three Sangiovese selections: VCR5, clone 7 from the Chianti Classico 2000 project and I-VCR-209. The selections were chosen for quality rather than volume and for their perceived suitability for wines with medium- to long-term ageing potential.

The preservation of Le Terrazze became a multiyear project. The team first assessed every vine for two years, then selected healthy individual vines of Sangiovese, Canina Nera and Trebbiano Toscano. Cuttings went to a nursery for propagation; after another two years, 150 young vines derived from the old material were returned for planting. The intention is to repeat the process and establish a renewed vineyard descended from Montecalvi's 1932 vines. An earlier plan estimated roughly five years for the first phase.

La Stalla was planted with Sangiovese in 2021. La Chiantigiana followed in 2022 with Sangiovese selections CCL 2000/7 and F9. In 2022 the estate was also preparing another 0.5 ha for Sangiovese F9 and R24, selections considered better adapted to contemporary climatic trends.

In spring 2023, approximately 1,400 missing vines were replaced across the estate. Losses had resulted from age, injury and disease. A crew of 14 worked for two weeks from dawn to dusk, digging, planting, watering and adding nutrients. This work was intended to restore a consistent canopy and improve interception of sunlight under warmer conditions.

Plans announced after the 2024 harvest called for Il Pozzo to be doubled in size with Sangiovese and Ciliegiolo and for La Stalla to be replanted with Sangiovese in early 2025.

Organic farming and the contemporary cellar

Montecalvi became an ICEA-certified organic estate under the Drake family. The certification accompanied the elimination of chemical fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and fungicides and a wider commitment to sustainable management of the entire property.

In July 2025 Elena Renault joined as cellar manager after working at Querciabella with Manfred Ing. Stefano Chioccioli returned to Montecalvi as consulting agronomist and oenologist, having already advised on Montecalvi Alto in 1990. This change succeeded the period led by Tim Manning.

The estate has also continued to revise its range. A Vermentino had previously been introduced using skin contact, malolactic fermentation and lees ageing, although the fruit was purchased because Montecalvi did not grow white grapes. In 2025 Elena Renault proposed replacing that dependence on external white fruit with a rosato made from the estate's own Sangiovese. The resulting Palmira was named for Palmira Tosolini, Jim Drake's mother.

Montecalvi lies immediately above Greve in Chianti in central Tuscany, on the right bank of the Greve River and within the Greve UGA of Chianti Classico. The river's proximity contributes to the varied influences found within the subzone.

The estate extends over 10 ha, with vineyards between 250 and 280 m above sea level. Vineyard aspects include south, southeast and southwest. The ground is broadly described as sandy loam over clay, but two distinct geological formations occur within the small property.

Macigno is a hard, non-calcareous sandstone associated with delicacy and agility in the resulting wines. Sillano is a clay-rich marlstone associated with greater body and richer fruit. The estate's vineyards therefore encompass a meaningful soil contrast despite their compact area.

Le Terrazze occupies particularly steep, masonry-supported terraces. Its dry-stone walls and gradient require all cultivation and carrying work to be done by hand.

Vintage conditions illustrate the site's climatic pressures. The 2022 season brought temperatures approximately 5°C above average and virtually no precipitation from April through August, yet established vines showed little heat stress. In 2024, long sunny periods, cool evenings, intermittent rain and no hail encouraged slow ripening, retained acidity and alignment between sugar and phenolic maturity. Heavy rain then arrived during the late-September to mid-October harvest window.

The entire 10 ha property is managed organically and sustainably, and Montecalvi holds ICEA organic certification. Chemical fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and fungicides are excluded. Organic management requires close observation of weather and vineyard conditions and carefully timed decisions without recourse to conventional corrective products.

The compact scale permits row-by-row, vine-by-vine and bunch-by-bunch attention. Varieties are harvested separately, while multiple picking passes allow each block or group of vines to be collected only when ready.

Ripeness monitoring begins at veraison and focuses particularly on sugar, acidity and phenolic maturity. Sugar influences potential alcohol; acidity is assessed for freshness, colour, structure and ageing capacity; and the maturity of anthocyanins and tannins in skins, seeds and stems is evaluated for colour, flavour and complexity. Harvest begins when these components reach balance. Yahya El Harchaoui and Marco Nicastro lead the picking team.

Winter pruning establishes each vine's framework under its training system and selects the appropriate fruiting cane or spur. Bud numbers and vegetation are regulated according to each vine's leaf area and photosynthetic capacity, influencing both crop volume and quality. The team considers the individual vine, parcel and slope rather than imposing a uniform prescription.

Montecalvi follows gentle pruning principles. Cuts are kept as few and as small as possible and positioned to preserve sap flow and the natural movement of water and nutrients. The objective is healthier, longer-lived vines, improved disease resistance, balanced canopies and better fruit. Marco Tessari introduced the method to the wider team after training with Simonit & Sirch; the 2024 account also traces the concept to Poussard.

Canopy consistency is maintained by replacing vines lost to age, injury or disease. A full canopy is valued both for fruiting capacity and for maximizing light interception as conditions become warmer. In spring 2023, 1,400 missing vines were replanted by a 14-person crew over two weeks, with water and nutrients added at planting.

Le Terrazze receives an especially labor-intensive, entirely manual regime. Its regeneration project preserves genetic material from selected 1932 vines and is intended to maintain the historical vineyard and local biodiversity.

Montecalvi follows a deliberately restrained cellar philosophy: little is added and nothing is taken away, with intervention reduced to the minimum considered necessary. The work begins with precise vineyard management and repeated harvest passes intended to deliver grapes at balanced sugar, acid and phenolic maturity.

Each grape variety is harvested, fermented and aged separately. This preserves the identity of Sangiovese, Ciliegiolo, Canaiolo, Canina Nera, Cabernet Sauvignon and the other components before blending. The aim of blending is to create a result more complex than the individual lots while retaining their distinct characters.

Wines are tasted regularly from barrel to monitor their evolution and quality. There is no fixed recipe: élevage and blending decisions are made anew for each vintage and lot. The cellar team assesses whether a wine should continue developing alone or become part of a blend and determines the right time for release.

Minimal intervention is treated as active, attentive guidance rather than neglect. The objective is to avoid forcing the wine once sound fruit has reached the cellar, intervening only when necessary and allowing vintage and site to remain legible.

A past white-wine project used purchased Vermentino because the estate did not grow white grapes; its production incorporated skin contact, malolactic fermentation and ageing on lees. In 2025 the cellar instead created its first rosato from estate-grown Sangiovese, eliminating dependence on purchased white fruit.