About this wine
Vineyard and terroir
San Lorenzo is the valley facing the estate’s eighteenth-century villas. Its name derives from the fifteenth-century chapel in the village of Ama. Acquired in 1972, the vineyard covers 16.5 hectares at 466–525 metres above sea level, faces east/southeast and has chalky soil with a notable component of clay-rich schist.
Grapes
The vineyard is now the principal source of Sangiovese for Castello di Ama San Lorenzo Gran Selezione. The composition of the historic Vigneto San Lorenzo cru is not specified.
Label / history
Vigneto San Lorenzo was one of four vineyard-designated Chianti Classico selections through which Castello di Ama helped establish the cru concept during the 1980s. Its first vintage was 1982, and the namesake cru was produced through 1990. The San Lorenzo vineyard subsequently became the core source of Sangiovese for the estate’s Gran Selezione bearing the San Lorenzo name.
Since the estate’s foundation, its labels have featured a stylised rendering by painter Gian Carozzi of Guidoriccio da Fogliano, the mounted commander depicted in Simone Martini’s fresco of the siege of Montemassi in Siena’s Palazzo Pubblico.
