Villa Le Prata

The villa and its early history

Villa Le Prata traces its beginnings to 1860, the year associated with the start of Italian unification and Garibaldi’s Expedition of the Thousand. Count Carlo de’ Vecchi inaugurated the property as his hunting lodge; another account within the estate’s historical material dates the construction of the villa, then called Le Prata, to 1862.

The villa later became the country residence of the Bishop of Montalcino. Episcopal use continued for more than half a century and lasted into the opening decades of the twentieth century. Religious furnishings preserved in the residence—including an imposing gilded eighteenth-century bed—recall this period.

A vineyard predating the modern estate

The parcel now known as Vigna Massimo was planted in 1972 with a mass selection of Sangiovese Grosso. It is the oldest of the four vineyards presently associated with Villa Le Prata.

The Losappio family and the birth of wine production

In 1980, Massimo Losappio, chief surgeon at Montalcino hospital, and his wife Marialuce, a philosophy teacher, bought Villa Le Prata as their family residence. Massimo’s attachment to the surrounding land and his wish to make his own wine led him to establish the first family vineyard in 1987. That planting became Vigna Le Prata.

Massimo and Marialuce initially matured their Brunello in a cellar adjoining the kitchen. Wine formed part of the household’s practice of welcoming relatives, friends and other guests.

At the end of the 1980s, a craftsman from Ischia built the estate’s first purpose-made cellar. The work was offered in gratitude to Professor Massimo Losappio, who had treated and saved the lives of both the craftsman’s mother and his wife.

Management and vineyard development

Management first passed to Marialuce and Anna Vittoria. In 1996, Benedetta Losappio, daughter of Massimo and Marialuce, assumed responsibility for the estate.

The vineyard holdings developed further with the planting of Vigna San Prospero in 1998. The youngest parcel, Vigna Vescovo, was planted in 2017. Together with Vigna Le Prata and Vigna Massimo, these plantings form a four-vineyard estate of less than three hectares.

Ownership since 2014

In 2014, Anna Vittoria and Bernardo acquired Villa Le Prata. Anna Vittoria subsequently took direct responsibility for the property, working with her sons Edoardo and Niccolò.

The villa has also maintained an artistic dimension. It served for a period as the studio of Spanish painter Carlos Prieto, while Florentine artist Arianna Papini created the authorial illustrations used across the wine labels.

High-altitude setting

Villa Le Prata lies immediately below the summit of Montalcino hill, with its four vineyards positioned between approximately 495 and 515 m above sea level. The vineyards occupy less than three hectares on a narrow band of land where distinct ecosystems and geological eras converge. The setting includes woodland, olive trees, cypresses, wild cherry trees and centuries-old chestnuts, with exposure to Tuscan maritime breezes.

Altitude produces marked temperature fluctuations after véraison. These shifts support phenolic development, the formation of complex aromas, retention of acidity and slower maturation—particularly in the northwest-facing sites.

Vigna Vescovo and Vigna Le Prata

Vigna Vescovo and Vigna Le Prata belong to a Pliocene landscape of marine polygenic conglomerates formed approximately 3–5 million years ago. Their hillside soils combine altered pebbles, balanced texture, sound internal drainage and acidic pH. The weathered Pliocene material releases minerals and trace elements available to the vines.

Vigna Vescovo has reddish, moderately deep, non-calcareous soils with abundant pebbles and altered skeletal material. Their texture is predominantly sandy-loamy-clay; structure and drainage are good, while water reserves are moderate.

Vigna Le Prata occupies a plateau at 507 m. Its generally deep, brown soils contain frequent, strongly weathered pebbles and have a predominantly sandy-loamy-clay texture. They are non-calcareous, acidic, well structured and well drained, with high water reserves.

The combination of altitude, acidic reaction and weathered Pliocene pebbles is associated with aromatic definition, fruit intensity, elegance, spice and complexity, generally with moderate structure.

Vigna Massimo and Vigna San Prospero

Vigna Massimo and Vigna San Prospero occupy the much older Sillano–Santa Fiora Formation, dating from the Upper Cretaceous–Paleocene, approximately 60–75 million years ago. The formation comprises claystone, marly limestone, siltstone and calcilutite; calcarenite also occurs at San Prospero.

These soils are predominantly loamy clay. Clay released from the marly limestone fraction contributes structural capacity and colour intensity, while moderate limestone is associated with aromatic persistence and elegance. Marly limestone minerals and arenaceous fragments are linked to fine red-fruit and woodland-berry aromas. Good drainage, suitable water availability and altitude-driven temperature fluctuations favor balanced vine growth, phenolic development and must acidity.

Vigna Massimo has deep, well-structured and well-drained soils with about 120 cm of useful depth, high water reserves, moderate calcareousness and subalkaline pH. Vigna San Prospero has moderately deep soils with approximately 100–110 cm of useful depth, frequent fragments of marly limestone and siltstone, slight calcareousness and subalkaline pH.

The four vineyards are worked as small, individually defined high-altitude parcels. Vigna Le Prata, Vigna Massimo and Vigna San Prospero are trained to spurred cordon; their respective planting layouts are 120/300, 125/290 and 100/290, while Vigna Vescovo has a 75/230 layout.

Grapes used across the principal range are harvested by hand. Vigna Le Prata retains a spontaneous cover of wild herbs and flowers and is embedded among olive trees, wild cherry trees, chestnuts and cypresses, with bees forming part of the immediate ecosystem. Vigna San Prospero stands beside woodland, and its cultivated vines are grafted onto wild vines originating in those woods.

The estate treats drainage, water reserves, soil reaction, altitude and post-véraison temperature fluctuations as central to balanced vine development, phenolic maturity, aroma formation and acid retention.

The cellar’s earliest phase centered on a small room beside the family kitchen, where Massimo and Marialuce matured their Brunello. A dedicated cellar was constructed at the end of the 1980s by a craftsman from Ischia.

Hand harvesting and spontaneous fermentation recur across the range. Standard red-wine macerations generally last about 20–30 days. Rosso di Montalcino matures for approximately 12 months in 20- and 30-hL oak casks. The principal Brunello protocol uses the same cask sizes for approximately 36 months, followed by at least six months in bottle.

A whole-cluster expression of Sangiovese undergoes spontaneous fermentation and 15–20 days of semi-carbonic maceration, followed by maturation in stainless steel. It is produced without added sulfites and is identified as organic wine.

The Vigna Vescovo protocol uses hand-harvested fruit, approximately 20 days of spontaneous fermentation and maceration in steel, followed by 24 months in French-oak tonneaux. The Vigna Massimo protocol likewise uses hand harvesting, approximately 20 days of spontaneous fermentation in steel and 36 months in oak.

A four-vineyard Brunello is made from fruit grown around 500 m and follows spontaneous fermentation, approximately 20–30 days of maceration, around 36 months in 20- and 30-hL oak casks, and at least six months of bottle maturation.