Italy · Chianti Hills

Carpineto

Five-appellation Tuscan estate founded in 1967 in Chianti Classico, farming Sangiovese across Brunello di Montalcino, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, and IGT tiers under single family ownership.

The producer

Carpineto farms five Tuscan appellations from a single founding base in Dudda, a hillside hamlet within the municipality of Greve in Chianti. The Sacchet and Zaccheo families established the estate in 1967 and both families still own and run it. From that original Chianti Classico address the estate grew outward to Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Brunello di Montalcino, Alto Valdarno, and Maremma, accumulating 500 estate hectares along the way, more than 300 of which are planted to vine. All five properties are dry-farmed. Beneath the Dudda headquarters an underground bottle cellar holds approximately one million bottles at a natural 15 to 17 degrees Celsius, unchanged across seasons.

The Montalcino estate is the editorial anchor: 53 hectares above 500 metres, a stone cellar already three centuries old when Carpineto arrived, and ten hectares of Sangiovese Grosso at the vineyard core. The Riserva fruit comes from Vigna Paradiso, the highest-elevation parcel on the property, where the longer hang time and galestro soils produce a wine with high acidity, granular tannin, and the kind of structural depth that takes years to open. The Dogajolo Rosso Toscana IGT, a Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon blend released young, is where to begin before stepping up the appellation ladder.

Known for

Brunello di Montalcino Riserva from Vigna Paradiso, the highest-elevation parcel on the Montalcino estate, dry-farmed Sangiovese Grosso aged in a three-century-old stone cellar above 500 metres.

Notable facts

The story

The Dragon in the Woods

The stone cellar on the Montalcino estate is three centuries old. When Carpineto began farming the surrounding hillside, the dense woods encircling the ten-hectare vineyard carried a local reputation: something large and feared was moving through the trees. Villagers called it the Drago, the dragon. When the animal was finally encountered, it proved to be a porcupine, unusually large by any measure but a porcupine nonetheless. The dragon name did not go away. Carpineto kept it for the Montalcino sub-label, named the range Forteto del Drago, and put a dragon on the label. The bottles from that old stone cellar, surrounded by the same woods, still carry it.

From the atlas

Carpineto

At A Glance

The Producer

Carpineto farms five Tuscan appellations from a single family base. The Sacchet and Zaccheo families founded the estate in 1967 in Dudda, a hillside hamlet within the Chianti Classico municipality of Greve in Chianti, and both families still own and run it. From that original Chianti address the estate grew outward: Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, then Brunello di Montalcino, then Alto Valdarno and Maremma. Carpineto manages 500 estate hectares, more than 300 of which are planted to vine.

The administrative and winemaking headquarters remain in Dudda. Beneath those buildings sits an underground bottle cellar that holds approximately one million bottles at a natural 15 to 17 degrees Celsius, unchanged across seasons without mechanical cooling. That cellar is where Carpineto's wines age before release, and it is a concrete reason the estate can time its bottles to the market rather than push them out early.

Place

Carpineto's range spans three of Tuscany's most argued appellations, each one built around a different expression of Sangiovese and a different set of soils and elevations.

Dudda sits within the Chianti Classico zone, the medieval heartland between Florence and Siena where Sangiovese on calcareous, galestro-rich hillsides produces the tannic, high-acid reds that gave the region its modern reputation. Eight hectares around the Dudda headquarters are dry-farmed on steep hillsides to Sangiovese and Canaiolo, the traditional Chianti Classico combination.

The Montepulciano estate lies at around 300 metres in the southeast of Tuscany, where Prugnolo Gentile, the local clone of Sangiovese, produces Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. The appellation requires extended ageing and produces wines with deep colour, firm tannin, and the kind of acidity that keeps them fresh across a decade.

The Montalcino estate sits higher still, above 500 metres on the hill south of Siena where Sangiovese Grosso, the Brunello clone, produces one of Italy's longest-lived reds. Altitude at Montalcino means a longer growing season, cooler nights, and slower phenolic development. Tannin builds steadily rather than in a hot rush, acidity stays high, and the wine needs time to resolve. Brunello must age a minimum of five years before release; the Riserva adds another year and comes from the best fruit in the vineyard.

Soil And Site

The Montalcino vineyard sits on sedimentary galestro, a thin, friable schist with Eocene-era clay accumulations beneath. Galestro drains fast and holds little water, which stresses the vine through summer and concentrates flavour in a small berry crop. The clay beneath moderates that stress enough to keep the vine alive through dry years. The combination produces grapes with high acidity and concentrated fruit without the waterlogged quality that heavier soils can introduce.

Vigna Paradiso, the highest-elevation parcel within the Montalcino property, is where the Riserva fruit comes from. Higher ground at Montalcino means an even longer hang time, a later harvest, and slower sugar accumulation alongside slower tannin ripening.

Story

Carpineto began as a single Chianti Classico property and grew by buying estate land rather than grapes. Each new appellation meant a new physical presence: a winery, vineyards, and the full farming commitment rather than sourced fruit or a négociant arrangement. The Montepulciano estate eventually covered about 120 hectares of dry-farmed hillside vineyards within 184 tillable hectares. The Montalcino purchase brought a 53-hectare farm with a stone cellar already three centuries old when Carpineto arrived.

The estate committed early to dry farming across its properties rather than irrigation, a choice that limits yield and increases vine stress but produces more concentrated, longer-lived fruit. The Dudda cellar became an early experimental site for technical work including controlled malolactic fermentation, cold maceration, and carbonic maceration, techniques that were not yet standard in Chianti Classico during the 1970s and 1980s. The estate's forests, olive groves, and vineyards together absorb 26 percent more carbon than the company emits, and Carpineto carries VIVA certifications for Air, Water, and Territory alongside IFS and ISO 14001.

Vineyards And Cellar

All five estates are dry-farmed. Dry farming withholds irrigation and forces vine roots to descend toward water held deep in the subsoil, which produces smaller crops and more concentrated grape flavour at harvest. At Montalcino, ten hectares of Sangiovese Grosso sit at the vineyard core surrounded by forest, which moderates temperature and maintains humidity through the hottest months.

At Montepulciano, the winery runs on a 150kW integrated solar system and ages Vino Nobile in both Slavonian oak casks and small barrels. Slavonian oak is larger and less porous than French barriques, which means slower, gentler oak integration and wines that carry wood character without dominating the Prugnolo Gentile fruit. The Dudda underground cellar runs at a natural 15 to 17 degrees Celsius and holds approximately one million bottles in bottle ageing before release.

The 2018 Brunello Riserva is made solely from Sangiovese Grosso, the large-berried Brunello clone selected over centuries in Montalcino for its capacity to produce deeply coloured, age-worthy reds on this specific hill.

Wines

Carpineto produces across four appellation tiers with an IGT entry level below them.

The Chianti Classico from Dudda is the home wine: Sangiovese and Canaiolo from eight dry-farmed hectares on the original estate. Canaiolo softens Sangiovese's higher tannin and adds a slightly floral note to the blend.

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, made from Prugnolo Gentile at 300 metres, produces wines with deep colour, firm tannin, and a particular earthy quality that distinguishes Montepulciano from Chianti Classico. The Riserva tier adds more ageing and draws on the best parcels from the 120-hectare vineyard block.

The Brunello di Montalcino Riserva comes from Vigna Paradiso above 500 metres. Brunello Riserva from this elevation is known for high acidity alongside dense, chewy tannin that requires years to integrate. The 2018 is made entirely from Sangiovese Grosso.

Dogajolo Rosso Toscana IGT blends Sangiovese with Cabernet Sauvignon for the entry level. The Cabernet adds body and dark fruit alongside Sangiovese's acidity and cherry character, and the wine is fermented and briefly aged for early release. It is intended for drinking young.

In The Glass

The Brunello Riserva from Vigna Paradiso is the most demanding wine in the range. It opens slowly, showing dried rose and sour cherry over a mineral, almost stony edge that comes from the galestro soil. In the mouth the tannin is firm and granular rather than smooth, with a long, drying finish that demands either time in the cellar or food alongside it. The acidity is high and persistent, lifting the fruit through the mid-palate and keeping the finish fresh well after swallowing. Young examples need at least five to eight years from vintage.

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano sits closer to the ground than Brunello, with earthier, darker fruit and tannin that is firm but slightly broader. Chianti Classico from Dudda is the most immediately approachable of the appellation wines, with Sangiovese's cherry and herb character at its most direct.

Dogajolo Rosso shows ripe dark cherry and a soft, plummy quality from the Cabernet component, with enough Sangiovese acidity to keep it from feeling heavy. It is ready shortly after release and holds well for three to five years.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the Dogajolo Rosso Toscana IGT. It is a Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon blend, briefly aged and released young, with ripe cherry, a touch of dark plum from the Cabernet, and the lively acidity that Sangiovese carries almost regardless of where in Tuscany it grows. The wine has no extended oak ageing, no appellation minimum, and no demanding tannin that requires years to soften. It is drinkable on the night you open it, and it gives a clear picture of what Sangiovese tastes like when the house is letting it be approachable rather than austere. From there the step up to Vino Nobile or Brunello makes immediate sense: the same grape, the same acidity, but longer in the cellar and grown in soil and at elevations that produce a harder, more demanding wine.

Anecdote

The stone cellar on Carpineto's Montalcino estate is three centuries old. When the estate began farming the surrounding hillside, the dense woods that encircle the ten-hectare vineyard carried a local reputation: something large and feared was moving through the trees. Villagers called it the Drago, the dragon. When the animal was finally encountered, it turned out to be a porcupine, unusually large by any measure but a porcupine nonetheless. The dragon name did not go away. Carpineto kept it for the Montalcino sub-label, named the range Forteto del Drago, and put a dragon on the label. The bottles from that old stone cellar, surrounded by the same woods, still carry it.

Final Word

Carpineto works from five Tuscan appellations but the discipline is consistent across them: dry farming, estate land, and wines that age before they leave the cellar. The Brunello Riserva from Vigna Paradiso is where that approach produces its most demanding result. Begin with the Dogajolo to understand the grape, then follow the elevation and the appellation rules upward.

Sources

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