Tenuta Sant'Alfonso

Acquisition in 1973

Tenuta Sant'Alfonso entered the Zingarelli family's holdings in 1973, the same year as Tenuta Le Macìe. That year Italo Zingarelli and his wife, Laura Spano, established Rocca delle Macìe as a family wine-growing enterprise near Castellina in Chianti. Sant'Alfonso eventually became the largest of the family's estates, encompassing 125 ha.

The roots of the family enterprise lay in Italo's transition from cinema to agriculture. He had worked as a boxer, film extra, stuntman, production technician and production manager before becoming a producer and distributor. In 1973, at a time when many people were leaving the countryside for cities, he pursued a long-held ambition to establish a Tuscan wine estate.

Transfer of management

Sergio Zingarelli began working alongside his father in 1985. Four years later, in 1989, he assumed leadership of the family enterprise with his wife Daniela, and the couple moved permanently from Rome to Castellina in Chianti. Sergio subsequently developed the business with the support of his siblings, Sandra and Fabio, his wife and, later, the family's third generation.

Vineyard renewal and planting

During the 1990s, Sergio initiated what the family describes as a new viticultural era, placing the quality of the grapes at the beginning of an oenological process directed toward higher-quality wines. Sant'Alfonso's present vineyard reflects several phases of planting: 1998–2001, 2002–2009 and 2011–2013. Poggio ai Lupi, the named vineyard supplying the estate's historic cru, contains Sangiovese planted over the broader period from 1998 to 2017.

Sustainability and plot-focused viticulture

In 2000, the wider family enterprise abandoned a number of environmentally invasive techniques and adopted an internal sustainability protocol. Its objectives are to rationalize the use of water, air and soil resources, prevent unnecessary waste and limit disruption to the ecosystem.

A further technical development came in 2010, when agronomist and oenologist Lorenzo Landi began consulting for the family. Working particularly with Andrea Zingarelli and the technical team, Landi contributed to decisions in the vineyards and cellar. The approach increasingly shifted from viewing a vineyard simply as a source of grapes toward evaluating uniform individual plots as the basis for wines with distinct territorial character.

In 2021, the sustainability program was reinforced through the VIVA certification process. Its four indicators assess air and climate footprint, water footprint, the effects of agronomic management in the vineyard, and the estate's wider socioeconomic and cultural relationship with its territory.

The third generation

The estate remains part of a family-run enterprise. Sergio serves as chairman and is supported in general management by his son Andrea. His daughter Giulia works principally between the main business and Tenuta Fizzano's hospitality activities. Sandra and her son Fabio combine responsibilities for the family's film rights with commercial work, while Italo's son Fabio has also contributed to the development of the family enterprise.

Sant'Alfonso grows Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Colorino. Spurred cordon and Guyot are the two recorded training systems. The estate's current vineyard reflects plantings made in 1998–2001, 2002–2009 and 2011–2013, while Poggio ai Lupi contains Sangiovese plantings spanning 1998–2017 at 5,555 vines/ha.

Specific Sangiovese clones were matched to the estate's clay-rich soils. This interaction is associated with greater concentrations of polyphenols and aromatic compounds in the bunches.

Across the Zingarelli family's vineyard program, traditional practices are combined with newer monitoring and control technology. Measures include phytosanitary monitoring and warning systems connected to weather stations; infrared mapping of vineyard health; monitoring harmful insects and introducing antagonist species; pheromone-based mating disruption; beekeeping beside vineyards; organic fertilizers; green manure; and the recovery of rainwater and wastewater.

The sustainability program began in 2000 with the removal of numerous environmentally invasive techniques and the adoption of an internal protocol intended to reduce resource use and ecological impact. The VIVA process added assessment of four areas in 2021: climate footprint, water footprint, agronomic management and the socioeconomic-cultural relationship with the territory.

Fifty beehives are distributed between Tenuta Sant'Alfonso and Tenuta Le Macìe. The bees serve both honey production and environmental observation, reflecting an approach that treats bee health as sensitive to climate and the quality of the surrounding agricultural environment.

Grapes selected exclusively from Tenuta Sant'Alfonso supply the estate's eponymous Chianti Classico DOCG. The wine is fermented with methods intended to retain the grapes' natural concentration and maximize the extraction of polyphenolic substances. It then matures for at least one year in French-oak casks holding 25–35 hl, followed by at least three months of bottle refinement.

The wider family approach combines modern production technology with accumulated practical knowledge. Its quality program begins with grape quality and increasingly treats uniform individual vineyard plots as the basis for wines that convey distinct territorial character.