Italy · Chianti Hills

Fattoria di Caspri

Biodynamic natural-wine estate in the Arezzo hills, built by a French Alsatian oenologist on a mandate to make the most interference-free wine possible in Tuscany.

The producer

Bertrand Habsiger grew up in Alsace, trained first as a sommelier and then as an oenologist, and arrived in Tuscany not through inheritance but through a commission: a friend asked him to find land in Italy and make wine with the least possible human interference. He chose nine hectares in the Arezzo hills, on soils of clay over decomposed gneiss, surrounded by forest on all sides. The estate is certified organic and biodynamic. Vines are treated with tisanes and decoctions, herbal and plant-extract preparations that replace synthetic sprays, and the soil is worked no deeper than ten centimetres to leave root systems and soil biology undisturbed.

The grapes are Sangiovese, Canaiolo, Trebbiano, and Malvasia alongside Pinot Noir, Syrah, and Grenache, a range that reflects both the Tuscan tradition and Habsiger's Alsatian background. In the cellar, nothing is added and nothing is taken out: grapes are hand-harvested and fermented spontaneously in open neutral barrels, aged ten to twenty-two months, then bottled unfined, unfiltered, and without added sulfur. Locally, people call him Mr. Senza. Senza means without.

Known for

Certified biodynamic Sangiovese from the Arezzo hills, made without added yeasts, fining, filtration, or sulfur.

Notable facts

The story

Mr. Senza

A friend approached Bertrand Habsiger with an unusual request: find land somewhere in Italy and make the most natural wine possible. Habsiger, an Alsatian oenologist with a sommelier's past, took the commission seriously. He chose the Arezzo hills in eastern Tuscany, nine hectares of clay and gneiss surrounded by forest, and began farming without synthetic treatments, working the soil no deeper than ten centimetres, and making wine without any additives from harvest to bottling. The philosophy was total and documented: nothing put in, nothing taken out. Word spread through the area. Neighbours and local traders began calling him Mr. Senza. Senza, in Italian, means without.

From the atlas

Fattoria di Caspri

At A Glance

The Producer

Bertrand Habsiger is not from Tuscany. He grew up in Alsace, trained as a sommelier, and later qualified as an oenologist before a friend gave him an unusual commission: go to Italy and make the most natural wine possible. Habsiger chose nine hectares in the Arezzo hills, surrounded by forest, on soils of clay over decomposed gneiss. The estate is called Fattoria di Caspri, and it also runs seven hectares of olives on the same land.

His Alsatian background shaped the range in a direct way. Sangiovese, Canaiolo, Trebbiano, and Malvasia grow alongside Pinot Noir, Syrah, and Grenache. The French varieties are not a commercial gesture; they are what a French-trained palate planted when it arrived in rural Tuscany with a mandate to farm without compromise.

Locally, Habsiger is known as Mr. Senza. Senza means without.

Place

Arezzo sits in eastern Tuscany, roughly equidistant between Florence and Rome, away from the coastal Maremma and the Chianti Classico heartland. The land here is rural and relatively isolated. At Caspri, surrounding forest acts as a natural buffer: it reduces pest pressure, softens the microclimate, and provides the kind of biodiversity a biodynamic system depends on.

The hills around Arezzo are not a named wine appellation in the way Montalcino or Montepulciano are, which means the wines carry broader Tuscan designation rather than a village or zone label. For Habsiger, that is less a constraint than a condition of the project: the farming logic, not a classified address, is what the wines are built around.

Soil And Site

The soils at Caspri are clay over decomposed gneiss. Clay holds water through dry summers, which matters in a biodynamic system that excludes synthetic irrigation aids and leans on the vineyard's own reserves. Decomposed gneiss is a metamorphic rock that breaks down into mineral-rich, relatively poor soils: vines planted in it dig deeper and produce fruit with more concentrated character and less dilution.

The nine hectares of vines are surrounded by forest on all sides, which the estate manages as part of its biodynamic logic. Insects, birds, and ground cover from the trees reduce the pressure on the vines from pests and fungal disease without chemical intervention.

Story

Habsiger arrived in Tuscany not because his family farmed there, but because someone asked him to. A friend commissioned him to find land and make wine with the least possible human interference. That commission became the premise of Caspri: every decision since has flowed from it.

The farming is certified organic and biodynamic. Rather than conventional pesticides or fungicides, the vines are treated with tisanes and decoctions: hot water with herbs, or cold water with plant extracts, applied to strengthen the vines' own defences against parasites. Habsiger's no-till approach keeps all soil work to a maximum depth of ten centimetres, leaving the deeper root systems and soil biology undisturbed.

In the cellar, the same refusal of interference applies. Grapes are hand-picked. Fermentation is spontaneous, driven by wild yeasts on the grape skins, in open neutral barrels with no temperature manipulation. Nothing is added: no commercial yeasts, no acid adjustments, no fining agents, no sulfur at bottling. The wines age for ten to twenty-two months and are bottled unfiltered.

The French varieties in the ground, Pinot Noir, Syrah, and Grenache, are a direct consequence of Habsiger's background. An Alsatian oenologist building a Tuscan estate from a blank commission plants what he knows and what he believes belongs in that soil.

Vineyards And Cellar

The nine hectares are farmed without synthetic inputs. Tisane treatments use hot water infused with herbs to coat the vine and build its resistance; decoctions extract plant matter in cold water for a more concentrated preparation. Both replace copper and sulfur-heavy conventional spray programmes, though they require more frequent application and closer attention to weather.

No-till farming to ten centimetres means the topsoil compacts less, earthworm populations remain stable, and the vine roots develop without mechanical disruption. In a clay-heavy soil, regular deep ploughing in clay can harden lower layers and restrict drainage.

In the cellar, whole-cluster inclusion at eighty percent in the Rosso di Caspri means the stems ferment with the fruit, contributing tannin and a herbal, savoury quality alongside the Sangiovese fruit. Fermentation in open neutral barrels allows oxygen contact without oak extraction: the wine develops without picking up vanilla or toast. The extended maceration of one month in 1,500-litre conical wooden tanks allows the tannins to integrate slowly. Bottled unfined and unfiltered, the wine holds more of its natural protein and phenolic matter, which means it may show sediment with age and will develop further in bottle over years rather than months.

Wines

Two red wines are confirmed from sourced material. The Fattoria di Caspri Rosso blends ninety-five percent Sangiovese with five percent Canaiolo. The Canaiolo softens Sangiovese's naturally firm tannin and adds a lighter, cherry-fruit lift to the blend. This is the wine listed by the Swedish retail monopoly Systembolaget, suggesting at least some export presence in Scandinavia.

The Rosso di Caspri is one hundred percent Sangiovese. The two wines diverge in method as much as in composition: the Rosso di Caspri uses eighty percent whole clusters through a full month of maceration in large conical wooden tanks, which pulls more tannin and aromatic complexity from the grape than a conventional destemmed fermentation. Both wines follow the same ageing parameters across the range: ten to twenty-two months, no fining, no filtration, no added sulfur.

Whether the French varieties, Pinot Noir, Syrah, and Grenache, produce separate bottlings is not confirmed in available sources. The range may be wider than what sourced material covers.

In The Glass

The Rosso di Caspri opens with dark cherry and a wild, herbal note that comes from whole-cluster fermentation: the stems release a green, savoury character that runs through the Sangiovese fruit rather than sitting underneath it. In the mouth, the tannin is firm and gripping, the kind that coats the gums and asks for food rather than dissolving immediately. The acidity is the natural acidity of Sangiovese, bright and cutting, which keeps the wine alive through a long finish. There is no oak sweetness, no softening from fining. The wine is direct, a little austere in youth, and built to develop.

Because the wine is bottled without filtration, younger vintages can show a slight cloudiness or sediment. This is not a fault; it is what the wine is. Given a few years in bottle, the tannin softens and the fruit deepens.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the Rosso di Caspri. It is one hundred percent Sangiovese, farmed biodynamically, fermented with eighty percent whole clusters over one month in large conical wooden tanks, aged ten to twenty-two months, and bottled without fining, filtration, or added sulfur. Dark cherry on the nose, firm and savoury in the mouth, bright acidic finish with a tannic grip that signals how the wine ages. It is not a polished, ready-on-release bottle. It rewards patience and opens over two to three hours in a carafe. No other wine in the range makes the farming and the cellar philosophy as legible as this one does.

Anecdote

A friend approached Bertrand Habsiger with an unusual request: find land somewhere in Italy and make the most natural wine possible. Habsiger, an Alsatian oenologist with a sommelier's past, took the commission seriously. He chose the Arezzo hills in eastern Tuscany, nine hectares of clay and gneiss surrounded by forest, and began farming without synthetic treatments, tilling only the top ten centimetres of soil, and making wine without any additives from harvest to bottling. The philosophy was total and documented: nothing put in, nothing taken out. Word got around the area. Neighbours and local traders began calling him Mr. Senza. Senza, in Italian, means without.

Final Word

Fattoria di Caspri is a deliberate experiment run by an outsider. Habsiger arrived in Tuscany with a commission rather than a heritage, and built an estate around a single question: how little intervention does wine actually need? The answer, across nine biodynamically farmed hectares near Arezzo, is documented and specific. The wines are not easy in youth, but they are honest in the way that provokes thought rather than comfort.

Sources

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