Italy · Chianti Hills

Castello di Bossi

A fully organic Chianti Classico estate in Castelnuovo Berardenga, the southernmost commune of the zone, owned by the Bacci family since 1984. Sangiovese anchors three tiers of appellation wine; Corbaia blends Sangiovese with Cabernet Sauvignon for the estate's IGT tier.

The producer

Castello di Bossi sits at the southern end of Chianti Classico, in the commune of Castelnuovo Berardenga, where the landscape opens toward Siena and the vineyards ripen earlier and more fully than those in the cooler northern communes of Radda or Gaiole. The estate covers 500 hectares, with 120 planted to vines at around 350 metres elevation, on soils of tuff, yellow clay, silty sand, and broken stone. Marco Bacci bought it in 1984, having spent his career in the Florentine fashion industry. The first Corbaia, a Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon blend, came in 1985, one year after acquisition.

The Chianti Classico range runs from a dry, medium-bodied entry wine through a Riserva to the Gran Selezione, the apex tier introduced formally in 2014, which requires single-vineyard or best-barrel selection and a minimum of 30 months ageing. The 2018 Gran Selezione showed ripe cherry and blackberry, fine-grained tannins, and notes of dried cherry, blood orange, licorice, and mocha. Corbaia and the Merlot-led Girolamo complete the range as IGT Toscana bottlings. The estate is certified organic and powered by solar energy, with a flock of local sheep maintaining the four-hectare panel installation.

Known for

Chianti Classico Gran Selezione, Corbaia IGT Toscana

Notable facts

The story

The Sheep That Maintain the Solar Panels

Somewhere beyond the vine rows at Castello di Bossi, four hectares of solar panels tilt toward the Tuscan sun and power the cellar, the buildings, and the equipment across the property. Keeping the grass clear beneath them could mean tractors, or workers with strimmers, or regular mechanical passes through the rows. Instead, a flock of local sheep does it. They graze between the panels, cropping the grass before it grows high enough to cause problems, moving through the installation without compaction or fuel. The sheep were not acquired for their symbolic value. They solve a practical problem: the panels stay clear, the estate avoids machinery for the task, and the flock moves on to the next section. It is the kind of arrangement that sounds clever once you hear it and obvious after that.

From the atlas

Castello di Bossi

At A Glance

Estate: Castello di Bossi Appellation: Chianti Classico DOCG, IGT Toscana Commune: Castelnuovo Berardenga, southern Chianti Classico Principal Grapes: Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot Vineyards: 120 hectares at 350 metres average elevation Ownership: Bacci family since 1984 Farming: Certified organic, solar-powered

The Producer

Castello di Bossi sits in Castelnuovo Berardenga, the southernmost commune in Chianti Classico, where the landscape opens toward Siena and the warmth is noticeably different from the cooler hills of Gaiole or Panzano to the north. The estate covers 500 hectares, with 120 planted to vines at around 350 metres, and it anchors Bacci Wines, a Tuscan group that also holds land in Montalcino and along the Maremma coast near Morellino di Scansano.

Marco Bacci bought it in 1984. He was born in Florence in 1959 and had spent his working life in fashion before the estate changed his direction entirely. The first Corbaia, a Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon blend, came in 1985, one year after acquisition, which says something about the pace at which Bacci moved. His son Jacopo joined the company in 2004, starting on the production side before taking on sales across the United States and Asian markets. The family still owns and runs the estate.

Place

Castelnuovo Berardenga earns its reputation as the warmest part of Chianti Classico. Positioned at the zone's southern edge, the vineyards here ripen earlier than those in Radda or Gaiole and tend to produce fruit with more weight and generosity than the leaner, more mineral wines of the cooler northern communes. That warmth shows in the wines: Sangiovese at Bossi produces ripe cherry and dark fruit rather than the taut red-berry character more common further north.

The appellation itself, Chianti Classico DOCG, runs from just south of Florence down to the hills above Siena. Within it, Castelnuovo Berardenga is the final commune before the classification boundary ends, and the character of the wines reflects that position. The vineyards at Bossi face southeast to west, catching morning light and long afternoon sun, with soils that shift across the estate: tuff, yellow clay, silty sand, and broken stone, each section contributing differently to the texture and weight of the fruit.

Soil And Site

The mixed soils across the 120 hectares explain why the range can support three different grape varieties with different characters. Tuff retains some moisture during dry summer months, moderating vine stress. Yellow clay adds body and contributes to the fuller mid-palate weight found in the Chianti Classico range. Silty sand and broken stone drain freely, concentrating sugars in drier parcels and sharpening the finish in the IGT blends.

Elevation at around 350 metres provides cooler nights than the valley floors, slowing ripening in the final weeks before harvest and keeping acidity intact even in warm years. The combination of a warm commune and cooler hillside elevation is a recurring feature of better Castelnuovo Berardenga estates.

Story

The castle's tower was first documented in 1099. Florentine troops destroyed the building in 1478, during the factional conflicts that periodically tore through the Sienese countryside. The estate passed to the Ricasoli family, one of Tuscany's oldest wine dynasties and later the family behind Brolio in Gaiole, then to the Ugurgieri family before Marco Bacci acquired it in 1984.

Bacci came to wine without a winemaking background. Fashion had been his world, and the Bossi acquisition started as something other than a full commitment. The first Corbaia in 1985 showed ambition from the start: blending Sangiovese with Cabernet Sauvignon was a deliberate departure from the appellation hierarchy, placing that wine outside Chianti Classico entirely as an IGT Toscana. Over the following decade, Bacci moved further into wine, eventually committing to it as his primary work. When Jacopo joined in 2004, the estate had a second generation on the production floor, and the range had grown to include the full Chianti Classico pyramid alongside the IGT tier. The Gran Selezione, Chianti Classico's highest classification, was added after 2014 when the tier was formally introduced.

Vineyards And Cellar

The estate has been fully certified organic, which for 120 hectares of mixed-exposure vineyard in central Tuscany means no synthetic herbicides, pesticides, or fertilisers. Organic viticulture in a warm commune like Castelnuovo Berardenga places greater demands on vine management: canopy work matters more when the risk of disease is higher and yields must be controlled without chemical intervention.

The four hectares of solar panels that power the estate are maintained by a flock of local sheep rather than mechanical mowing. The sheep keep the grass cropped beneath and between the panels without fuel, without compaction, and without noise. It is an arrangement that works on practical grounds: the sheep graze freely, the panels stay clear, and the estate does not need a tractor for the task.

No sourced data covers barrel size, cooperage proportion, or maceration length in specific detail. The Gran Selezione, which requires a minimum of 30 months ageing before release under the Chianti Classico rules, undergoes oak ageing, but the precise regime is not publicly detailed.

Wines

Sangiovese runs through all three tiers of the Chianti Classico range. The entry-level Chianti Classico DOCG is a dry, medium-bodied, pure-Sangiovese wine aged in oak, with red cherry and dried herb character and the firm acidity that Sangiovese carries at this elevation. It is the clearest expression of the Castelnuovo Berardenga address without the additional ageing time of the upper tiers.

The Riserva sits above it, requiring longer barrel and bottle time before release, and the fruit concentration is correspondingly deeper.

The Gran Selezione is the apex of the appellation range, introduced as a formal tier in 2014 to recognise single-vineyard or best-barrel selections aged for a minimum of 30 months. The 2018 showed full-bodied fruit, with ripe cherry and blackberry, gentle tannins, and broad textural support; Wine Enthusiast found fine-grained tannins alongside dried cherry, blood orange, licorice, and mocha. It is the bottle that carries the most ageing potential in the range.

Corbaia, the estate's IGT Toscana, blends Sangiovese with Cabernet Sauvignon. It predates the Gran Selezione tier by nearly 30 years, having been made from 1985 onward, and was long the estate's flagship for the international varieties. Girolamo is a Merlot-led IGT that completes the international-variety tier.

In The Glass

The Chianti Classico opens with dried cherry, a hint of tobacco leaf, and the iron-tinged mineral note that Sangiovese carries from warm Tuscan soils. In the mouth, the acidity is firm and forward, the tannins drying but not rough, and the finish carries dried herb and a light earthiness. It is the most direct of the three appellation wines.

The Gran Selezione is darker and more concentrated: ripe cherry and blackberry dominate the nose, with mocha and licorice emerging after a few minutes in the glass. The tannins are finer-grained than the Chianti Classico, supported by a broader, rounder mid-palate weight that reflects both the longer ageing and the warmth of the Castelnuovo Berardenga growing season. The finish is long and textured.

Corbaia shows what Cabernet Sauvignon does alongside Sangiovese in a warm Tuscan vintage: blackcurrant and plum from the Cabernet sit alongside the cherry and dried-herb note of Sangiovese, with firmer tannin grip and more mid-palate density than the appellation wines. It drinks later than the Chianti Classico and ages differently, the Cabernet adding cassis-edged weight to the blend.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the Gran Selezione. It is Sangiovese from the estate's best selection of the vintage, aged for more than 30 months before release. Ripe cherry and blackberry on the nose, with mocha and blood orange developing as it opens. In the mouth, the tannins are fine-grained and the mid-palate broad, with firm acidity keeping the weight in check. The finish is long, with licorice and dried cherry. It shows the warm-south character of the commune without losing the Sangiovese grip that defines Chianti Classico at its better addresses.

Anecdote

Somewhere on the estate, beyond the vine rows, there are four hectares of solar panels. They tilt toward the Tuscan sun and power the cellar, the buildings, and the equipment across the property. Keeping the grass clear beneath them could mean tractors, or workers with strimmers, or regular mechanical passes through the rows. Instead, a flock of local sheep does it. They graze between the panels, cropping the grass before it grows high enough to cause problems, moving through the installation without compaction or fuel. The sheep were not acquired for their symbolic value. They solve a practical problem: the panels stay clear, the estate avoids machinery for the task, and the flock moves on to the next section. It is the kind of arrangement that sounds clever once you hear it and obvious after that.

Final Word

Castello di Bossi is a serious organic estate in the warmest part of Chianti Classico, built by a Florentine who came from fashion and stayed for wine. The Gran Selezione is the clearest quality statement in the range; Corbaia offers a different perspective from the same land, blending Sangiovese with Cabernet Sauvignon in a tradition the estate started before the appellation classification system had a tier for single-vineyard Sangiovese alone.

Sources

Open Castello di Bossi in the interactive map →