Italy · Maremma Grosseto

Cantina Vignaioli del Morellino di Scansano

A Maremma cooperative of 170 growers founded in 1972, now producing one in five bottles of Morellino di Scansano DOCG at prices that reflect the appellation's best value argument.

The producer

In 1972, seventeen smallholding families in the Maremma hills of southern Tuscany pooled their parcels and founded a cooperative around a single grape: Sangiovese, grown in the territory that would eventually carry the name Morellino di Scansano DOCG. Each family worked around four hectares. The founding ambition was quality over volume, a posture that ran against most of what the Italian wine market was rewarding at the time. Fifty years on, the cooperative has grown to 170 member growers farming approximately 700 hectares, producing five million bottles a year and representing roughly one bottle in five of total Morellino di Scansano DOCG output.

The range covers three labels rooted in Sangiovese from these coastal Maremma hills. The Cala Civetta IGT blends 90 percent Sangiovese with 10 percent Alicante for early drinking: tart dried cherry, liquid smoke, soft tannins, faint chalk on the finish. The Roggiano Biologico carries certified organic fruit, full DOCG appellation weight, and a palate of morello cherry, hibiscus and strawberry with velvety texture and juicy acidity. The Riserva adds oak ageing, fully integrated by release, drinking well now and capable of developing over five or more years from vintage. Scale does not flatten character here: the Biologico shows genuine freshness and the Cala Civetta carries a dried-cherry-and-smoke note that tracks directly to Sangiovese on sandy, stony Maremma soil.

Known for

Morellino di Scansano DOCG, Sangiovese, Maremma coastal hills

Notable facts

The story

The Vote Against Volume

Sometime in the years following the cooperative's 1972 founding, the seventeen original member families sat with a market that was paying for quantity. Italian wine buyers at that moment were not rewarding careful vineyard work or measured output: they were rewarding volume. The families, each farming around four hectares of Sangiovese in the Maremma hills, could have followed that logic and filled tankers. They voted instead to invest in the quality of the wine, a position that made no immediate commercial sense and required them to absorb the cost of working against what the market wanted. The decision held. The Morellino di Scansano zone received DOC recognition in 1978. Three decades later, in 2007, it was elevated to DOCG. The cooperative that had held the quality line from the beginning was by then already bottling one in five wines that carried the designation.

From the atlas

Cantina Vignaioli del Morellino di Scansano

At A Glance

Producer: Cantina Vignaioli del Morellino di Scansano Type: Grower cooperative Village: Scansano, Maremma, southern Tuscany Appellation: Morellino di Scansano DOCG Grape: Sangiovese Founded: 1972 Scale: 170 member growers, approximately 700 hectares, five million bottles annually

The Producer

In 1972, seventeen smallholding families in the Maremma hills of southern Tuscany pooled their parcels and founded a cooperative around a single grape: Sangiovese, grown in the territory that would eventually carry the name Morellino di Scansano. Each family worked around four hectares. The founding ambition was not volume but quality, a posture that ran against most of what the Italian wine market was rewarding at the time.

Fifty years on, the cooperative has grown to 170 member growers farming approximately 700 hectares, and it now produces five million bottles a year. That output represents roughly one bottle in five of total Morellino di Scansano DOCG production, making this the largest single contributor to the appellation. It remains a growers' cooperative, not a private negociant house, and the founding mission to offer wines that represent the Maremma territory and its traditions at honest prices has stayed in place.

Place

Morellino di Scansano is the DOCG appellation covering Sangiovese grown in the hills around Scansano, a village set inland from the Tyrrhenian coast in the Grosseto province of southern Tuscany. The Maremma was for much of the twentieth century one of Tuscany's least regarded wine zones: too warm, too flat in the lower reaches, and more associated with agriculture than fine wine. The hills around Scansano changed that argument. Elevation brings cooler nights, and proximity to the sea moderates summer heat, giving Sangiovese the temperature variation it needs to hold freshness without losing ripeness.

The DOCG designation came in 2007, formalising the quality tier above the earlier DOC recognition from 1978. Morellino requires at least 85 percent Sangiovese. Wines labelled Riserva carry additional oak ageing. The cooperative's bottles sit across the full range of the appellation: an IGT entry with Alicante blended in, a standard DOCG with certified organic fruit, and a Riserva with the oak integration and ageing arc the classification demands.

Soil And Site

The soils around Scansano are sandy and stony, which matters for how Sangiovese expresses itself here. Sandy soils drain freely, keep yields modest, and tend to produce wines with lighter tannin and cleaner fruit than the heavier clay profiles common elsewhere in Tuscany. The stony component adds warmth retention and contributes the faint chalky mineral note detectable in the Cala Civetta. Coastal elevation keeps daytime heat from overwhelming the grape, and the combination gives the cooperative's Sangiovese a freshness and aromatic clarity that would be harder to achieve on lower ground.

Story

The cooperative was barely a decade old when the Italian wine market entered a period dominated by volume. Large quantities sold; careful quality work did not automatically pay. The member families faced that pressure from the inside and chose differently. Rather than increase bulk output, they invested in the quality of the wine itself. The decision was economically awkward at the time and shaped everything that came after.

That choice helped build the case for DOC recognition in 1978, less than a decade after founding. The appellation gained further credibility through the following decades, and in 2007 Morellino di Scansano was elevated to DOCG. The cooperative had been farming and producing here throughout, and by the time the DOCG designation formalised the zone's quality standing, the cooperative was already supplying one in five bottles that carried it.

The growth from seventeen families to 170 members, and from under 70 hectares to 700, happened without a shift in ownership model. The cooperative remained intact, as did the founding logic: territorial wines at prices that reflect what the appellation is, not what neighbouring Brunello charges.

Vineyards And Cellar

The Roggiano Biologico carries certified organic fruit from member growers, which affects what arrives in the cellar: grapes farmed without synthetic inputs tend to show more aromatic definition, and the Biologico's nose of cherry, raspberry and roses has the kind of clarity that comes from careful fruit rather than corrective winemaking.

The Riserva line receives oak ageing, with the wood fully integrated by the time the wine reaches the market. Integration matters here because it is the difference between tasting oak and tasting wine that has spent time in oak. The Riserva drinks well on release and continues to develop over five or more years, which puts it in a different category from the cooperative's early-drinking labels.

The Cala Civetta is blended from 90 percent Sangiovese and 10 percent Alicante, the local name for Grenache. The Alicante adds aromatic lift and softens the tannin profile, making it the most immediately accessible wine in the range.

Wines

The cooperative produces three distinct labels, each positioned at a different level of the Sangiovese hierarchy in this territory.

Cala Civetta Sangiovese di Toscana IGT is the entry wine: 90 percent Sangiovese, 10 percent Alicante, vinified for early drinking. The colour is clear ruby. The nose opens on tart dried cherry and a thread of liquid smoke, with a faint chalkiness that comes through on the finish alongside soft tannins. It is light enough to drink in the first year or two from vintage and direct enough to work without food context.

Roggiano Biologico Morellino di Scansano DOCG steps up to the full appellation, with organic fruit from member vineyards. Ruby with a garnet fleck in the glass. The aromatics are fresher and more lifted than the IGT: cherry, raspberry and roses. On the palate, morello cherry and hibiscus come first, then strawberry, with a velvety texture and forest floor character underneath. Juicy acidity keeps the finish alive. This is Sangiovese in a fruit-led, mid-weight style with the full DOCG address.

Roggiano Riserva Morellino di Scansano DOCG Riserva is the most age-worthy bottle in the range. Oak-aged, with wood fully integrated by release, it drinks well now and will continue to develop over five or more years from vintage. Deeper in concentration than the Biologico, with more weight through the mid-palate and a longer finish.

In The Glass

Across the range, the character is Sangiovese from warm coastal hills: red cherry dominant, with dried fruit and smoke notes in the IGT that shift toward fresh morello cherry and floral aromatics in the Biologico. Tannins run from soft in the Cala Civetta to more built in the Riserva, but they are never harsh. Acidity holds the wines together throughout: it keeps the Biologico's velvety texture from feeling heavy and gives the Riserva its ageing potential.

The Biologico is the most aromatic wine in the range. The nose rises from the glass with cherry, raspberry and roses before the palate settles into morello cherry, hibiscus and a touch of strawberry. A forest floor note comes in mid-palate, and the finish is juicy and clean. The Cala Civetta reads differently: drier, more smoky, with tart dried cherry and that faint chalk line on the finish. It is quieter and more linear, built for simplicity. The Riserva sits above both: more concentrated, wood-framed, and structured for time.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the Roggiano Biologico Morellino di Scansano DOCG. It carries certified organic fruit, the full DOCG appellation weight, and a palate that shows what Sangiovese grown on these Maremma hills actually tastes like without oak complication in the way. The nose is expressive without being showy: cherry, raspberry, roses. The palate is velvety, fruit-clear and fresh, with morello cherry and hibiscus at the centre and juicy acidity keeping the finish lively. It is the wine that most directly answers what Morellino di Scansano is: medium-bodied red Sangiovese, coastal Tuscany, aromatic, clean and honest.

Anecdote

Sometime in the years following the cooperative's 1972 founding, the seventeen original member families sat with a market that was paying for quantity. Italian wine buyers at that moment were not rewarding careful vineyard work or measured output. They were rewarding volume. The families, each farming around four hectares of Sangiovese in the Maremma hills, could have followed that logic and filled tankers. They voted instead to invest in the quality of the wine, a position that made no immediate commercial sense and required them to absorb the cost of working against what the market wanted. The decision held. The Morellino di Scansano zone received DOC recognition in 1978. Three decades later, in 2007, it was elevated to DOCG. The cooperative that had held the quality line from the beginning was by then already bottling one in five wines that carried the designation.

Final Word

Cantina Vignaioli del Morellino di Scansano is the cooperative that helped build Morellino di Scansano into a credible DOCG while most of the market was watching somewhere else. The scale is real: five million bottles, 170 growers, one in five DOCG bottles. What travels with the scale is a range that holds honest Sangiovese character at each level, from the smoky directness of the Cala Civetta to the ageing arc of the Riserva. The Biologico is the bottle to open first.

Sources

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