Italy · Chianti Hills

Dievole

Chianti Classico estate in Castelnuovo Berardenga, first recorded in 1090, organically farmed across 158 hectares, producing single-vineyard Sangiovese and a Riserva named for its 900 documented years.

The producer

Dievole sits in Vagliagli, at the southeastern end of the Chianti Classico appellation, where the Sienese hills open out and elevations run from 270 metres at the lower vineyard slopes to 420 metres on the ridgelines. A Benedictine monastery recorded the property in a lease dated 1090, noting its annual value as two capons, three loaves, and six silver coins from Lucca. The estate spent most of the following nine centuries as an anonymous agricultural holding before Alejandro Bulgheroni purchased it in 2012 and redirected it toward single-vineyard Chianti Classico. All 158 hectares, divided across 16 plots of sandy, silty-clayey soil, have been certified organic since 2017.

The range is built almost entirely around Sangiovese. Le Due Arbie Rosato is a 100 percent Sangiovese rosé, pale salmon in colour, at 12.5 percent alcohol. The Novecento Chianti Classico Riserva takes its name from the Italian for nine hundred, a reference to those documented centuries, and the 2020 shows cherry, raspberry, earth, and eucalyptus across the palate. At the top of the range, Tocca Stelle is a single-vineyard Chianti Classico from 40-year-old vines, blended from 85 percent Sangiovese with Canaiolo Nero and Colorino, compact and dense with black cherry, citrus-thyme, and iodised tannins on the finish.

Known for

Single-vineyard Chianti Classico from 40-year-old Sangiovese vines farmed organically at 270 to 420 metres in Castelnuovo Berardenga.

Notable facts

The story

Two Capons, Three Loaves, Six Coins

In 1090, a Benedictine abbot put his name to a parchment lease for a property in the hills southeast of Siena. The document lists what the land owed each year: two capons, three loaves of bread, and six silver coins minted in Lucca. The property included houses, vineyards, woods, and rivers, and the abbot's scribes wrote the name of the place into the record. That document survived. When Alejandro Bulgheroni bought the estate in 2012 and began building a range around its Sangiovese, he needed a name for the reserve wine. He named it Novecento, nine hundred, for the span of years the parchment represented. The bottle carries the number on its label, and the 1090 lease remains the oldest verifiable record of viticulture on this ground.

From the atlas

Dievole

At A Glance

LocationVagliagli, Castelnuovo Berardenga, Chianti Classico
Elevation270 to 420 metres
GrapeSangiovese
Vineyards158 hectares, organic certified since 2017
OwnershipAlejandro Bulgheroni Family Vineyards (since 2012)
Key BottlesTocca Stelle Chianti Classico, Novecento Chianti Classico Riserva, Le Due Arbie Rosato

The Producer

In 1090, the abbot of the Benedictine Monastery of Saint Eugenio signed a parchment lease for a property in the hills southeast of Siena. The lease recorded the annual payment due from the land: two capons, three loaves of bread, and six silver coins from Lucca. The property was called Dievole. Vineyards were already among the assets listed alongside houses, woods, and rivers.

The estate spent most of the following nine centuries changing hands and producing wine without any particular distinction. By the twentieth century it had become what much of inland Tuscany quietly was: a source of bulk wine sold without a name attached. That changed in 2012, when Alejandro Bulgheroni, an Argentine businessman who had assembled six Tuscan properties across Chianti, Bolgheri, and Montalcino, purchased the estate and redirected it toward single-vineyard Chianti Classico.

Today Dievole farms 158 hectares of Sangiovese and other varieties in Vagliagli, at the southeastern end of the Chianti Classico zone. All vineyards have been certified organic since 2017. The range runs from a Sangiovese rosé at entry to a reserve and a set of single-vineyard bottlings at the top.

Place

Castelnuovo Berardenga is the southernmost and warmest commune within the Chianti Classico appellation. The zone sits at the edge of the Sienese hills where the landscape opens out and the elevations drop relative to the cooler Radda and Gaiole communes further north. Vagliagli, where Dievole sits, occupies the higher ground within Castelnuovo Berardenga, with vineyards running from 270 metres at the lower slopes up to 420 metres on the ridgelines.

That elevation range matters for Sangiovese. At the upper plots, cooler nights slow ripening and keep acidity higher, which in the glass translates to firmer tannin and longer finish. The soils are sandy and silty-clayey with fossil layers, a combination that drains well and limits vine vigour, concentrating flavour without forcing alcohol upward. Chianti Classico as a label requires a minimum of 80 percent Sangiovese; at Dievole the range is built almost entirely around the grape, with small quantities of Canaiolo Nero and Colorino in the single-vineyard blends.

Soil And Site

The 158 hectares divide across 16 plots. Soils across the estate are sandy and silty-clayey with fossil material present throughout. The combination of sandy topsoil and clay subsoil regulates water availability: the surface drains quickly after rain, while the clay holds enough moisture to buffer Sangiovese through dry summers without irrigation stress. The fossil layers indicate marine sediment origin, a soil type found across the Castelnuovo Berardenga zone and associated with wines that carry a mineral edge alongside the red fruit typical of the appellation.

Story

From parchment lease to bulk supplier to organically farmed single-vineyard estate: Dievole's arc covers nearly a millennium, though the meaningful turn is recent. When Bulgheroni took over in 2012, the estate had vineyards, elevation, and age. His strategy was territorial: separate the parcels, bottle them separately, and let the differences between plots show in the wine.

The first expression of that strategy was a set of three single-vineyard Chianti Classico bottlings from distinct parcels within the estate: Casanova, Catignano, and Petriganano, each vinified separately and each 100 percent Sangiovese. The approach was less common in Castelnuovo Berardenga, where co-fermented blends from multiple sites had been the norm. Separate-parcel bottling requires more cellar work, more careful harvest timing across plots at different elevations, and a willingness to release wines at different price points from what is legally the same appellation.

Organic certification came in 2017, covering all 158 hectares. Alongside the wine range, the estate built a serious olive oil programme producing 100,000 litres annually, a volume that puts it in a different category from the small-batch olive oil typical of wine estates. That investment in a parallel agricultural product, treated as a long-term strategic project rather than a tourist amenity, reflects the same approach applied to the vineyards: commit to quality across the whole estate, not only the flagship bottles.

Vineyards And Cellar

Organic farming across 158 hectares means no synthetic herbicides, pesticides, or fertilisers across any of the 16 plots. In the vineyard, this typically shows in higher microbial activity in the soil and more irregular yields from season to season, which in the glass translates to variation in fruit concentration and tannin density across vintages. The Tocca Stelle parcel is farmed from 40-year-old vines, a vine age that reduces yield naturally and concentrates flavour in the remaining fruit.

The Tocca Stelle blend of 85 percent Sangiovese, 10 percent Canaiolo Nero, and 5 percent Colorino follows a traditional Chianti formula. Canaiolo Nero softens tannin and adds a floral dimension; Colorino contributes colour depth. At low percentages, both varieties support rather than redirect the Sangiovese character.

Wines

The range opens with Le Due Arbie Rosato, a 100 percent Sangiovese rosé labelled as IGT Toscana at 12.5 percent alcohol. The colour is pale salmon. IGT Toscana is used here because the wine falls outside the appellation rules for Chianti Classico, which apply to red wines only; the grape and farming are the same as the red range. It is a direct, grape-pure entry point.

Novecento Chianti Classico Riserva takes its name from novecento, the Italian for nine hundred, a reference to the 900 years of documented estate history. Riserva status under Chianti Classico DOCG rules requires a minimum of 24 months ageing, at least three of which in bottle. The 2020 shows cherry and raspberry on the nose, with earth and eucalyptus adding secondary complexity on the palate. It is fruit-forward with herbal depth, and suited to longer ageing than the entry-level bottlings.

At the top of the range sit three single-vineyard Chianti Classico bottlings from parcels within the estate: Casanova, Catignano, and Petriganano, each 100 percent Sangiovese. Tocca Stelle is the documented flagship among these, from 40-year-old vines. The 2018 shows black cherry and citrus-thyme aromas, a compact and dense palate, iodised tannins, and fruity persistence on the finish.

In The Glass

Sangiovese from Castelnuovo Berardenga at these elevations tends toward firm tannin and clear red fruit rather than the rounder, more immediately plush style found in warmer lowland sites. At Dievole the combination of sandy-clay soils, older vines in the single-vineyard parcels, and organic farming produces wines with defined fruit and a dry, mineral edge.

The Novecento Riserva 2020 opens with cherry and raspberry, clean and direct, and moves through earth and eucalyptus in the mid-palate: secondary notes that come with longer ageing and indicate where the wine can go with more bottle time. The finish is medium-length, with grip from the tannin rather than heat from alcohol.

Tocca Stelle 2018 sits higher in concentration: the black cherry is denser, the citrus-thyme note is more precise, and the iodised quality of the tannin gives the finish a mineral character that the Riserva does not reach. The palate is compact, meaning the fruit and tannin are woven tightly rather than spread across a broad, open palate. That density is the direct product of old vines and low yields from the specific parcel.

A Bottle To Understand It

Tocca Stelle Chianti Classico is the bottle that concentrates what Dievole's site and farming produce at their clearest. It comes from 40-year-old vines in a single parcel, blended from 85 percent Sangiovese with small additions of Canaiolo Nero and Colorino, organically farmed on sandy-clay soils between 270 and 420 metres. The 2018 opens with black cherry and citrus-thyme, moves to a compact, dense palate with iodised tannins, and finishes with fruity persistence and mineral grip. There is no soft centre here: the wine is dry, firm, and concentrated. Start with this bottle to understand what the elevation and old-vine Sangiovese produce when vinified from a single parcel rather than blended across the estate.

Anecdote

In 1090, a Benedictine abbot sat down to record the terms of a property lease for a place in the Sienese hills. The document lists what the land owed each year: two capons, three loaves, and six silver coins minted in Lucca. The property included houses, vineyards, woods, and rivers, and the abbot's scribes wrote the name of the place into the parchment. That document survived. When Alejandro Bulgheroni bought the estate in 2012 and began building a range around its Sangiovese, he needed a name for the reserve wine. He named it Novecento, nine hundred, for the span of years the parchment represented. The bottle now carries the number on its label, and the 1090 lease is the oldest verifiable record of Chianti Classico viticulture on this ground.

Final Word

Dievole is an old Tuscan property that spent most of its life as an anonymous agricultural holding and re-emerged in 2012 as a single-vineyard Chianti Classico estate. The elevation, old-vine parcels, and organic farming are real. Tocca Stelle is the clearest argument the estate makes: dense, mineral, and tightly built from 40-year-old Sangiovese on this specific ground.

Sources

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