Italy · Chianti Hills

Fattoria Fibbiano

Family estate in Pisa province's Era Valley farming fossil-marine hilltop soils with century-old Sangiovese clones and a full commitment to native Tuscan varieties.

The producer

Fattoria Fibbiano sits in Terricciola, a hill village in Pisa province's Era Valley, inland from the Chianti corridor and working soils that were once seabed. The land holds Pliocene fossil shells and coral material, medium-textured and mineral, and it supports a range built entirely from native Tuscan grapes. Giuseppe Cantoni purchased the estate in 1997 and runs it alongside his sons: Matteo handles sales and Nicola makes the wine. No Cabernet, no Merlot, no Chardonnay grows here. That is a deliberate position, held since the family first walked the property and found a vineyard planted before 1900.

The three wines that anchor the range each have a specific argument. Ceppatella is Sangiovese from the old-vine hilltop parcel, dark and mineral, with firm tannin and an acid line built for the medium term. Fonte delle Donne is a white blend of Vermentino and Colombana from the valley floor, more textured and layered than a single-variety white. Vermentino Toscana is the bright single-variety white for early drinking. Nicola vinifies each separately so that the old-vine fruit is not dissolved into a house style.

Known for

Old-vine Sangiovese from pre-1900 clones; native Tuscan varieties on fossil-marine hilltop soils

Notable facts

The story

The Vineyard They Almost Replanted

In 1997, before Giuseppe Cantoni signed the papers on Fattoria Fibbiano, he walked the land with his sons to see what they were buying. Near the top of the hill they found a vineyard that looked different: the vines were older, the trunks thicker and more gnarled, the spacing irregular in the way that planting before mechanisation always is. When they asked about the age, they were told the rows had been there since before the turn of the century, before 1900. A viticulturist later identified the plant material as Sangiovese clones that had been bred out of commercial production decades earlier, listed in old ampelographies but no longer available from any nursery. Giuseppe chose not to replant. The vines still stand on that hilltop, still yielding in the low and irregular way that old vines do, and the wine they produce is now called Ceppatella, bottled under the family name.

From the atlas

Fattoria Fibbiano

At A Glance

The Producer

When Giuseppe Cantoni walked the property at Terricciola in 1997 to decide whether to buy it, he found a vineyard he had not expected: vines planted before the turn of the twentieth century, carrying Sangiovese clones that had long since disappeared from commercial nursery catalogues. That find settled the purchase and determined everything that followed.

Fattoria Fibbiano sits in the Era Valley in Pisa province, inland Tuscany, away from the Chianti corridor. Giuseppe runs the estate and vineyards. His son Matteo handles sales. His son Nicola makes the wine. The family farms 20 hectares of vines on fossil-marine soils and grows nothing that did not already belong to Tuscany: Sangiovese in three distinct biotypes, plus Canaiolo, Ciliegiolo, Colorino for reds, and Vermentino and Colombana for whites. No Cabernet, no Merlot, no Chardonnay. That is a deliberate argument, not an oversight.

Place

Terricciola is a small hill village in Pisa province, roughly equidistant between the Tyrrhenian coast and the Chianti hills. The Era Valley runs north to south through this part of Tuscany, and the estate sits where the valley floor meets the lower slopes of the surrounding hills. The address is labelled Toscana IGT rather than a named DOC or DOCG, which gives the estate full freedom to work with native varieties without appellation-mandated blending rules.

The distance from the Chianti heartland is not a handicap. It means the estate competes with grapes and soils that are genuinely its own, rather than fitting a regional production template built around a different hill.

Soil And Site

The soils at Terricciola were once seabed. They contain Pliocene-epoch fossil shells and coral material, medium-textured and mineral-rich, with a physical character unlike the galestro and alberese schist that defines most of inland Tuscany. That marine origin shows in wines with a saline mineral thread that is not easy to find in Sangiovese from the Chianti hills.

Red varieties occupy the hilltop, where drainage is sharper and temperatures drop overnight. White varieties grow on the valley floor, where the soil holds more moisture and the diurnal range is lower. Around 2.5 hectares face north, a deliberate choice made to preserve freshness in the grapes during the dry periods that have grown more frequent in recent years. South-facing rows give ripe, dark fruit in Sangiovese; north-facing rows trade some of that ripeness for brightness and longer hang time.

Story

The farmstead at Fibbiano carries a foundation stone dated 1707. The property had been agricultural land for centuries before the Cantoni family arrived. After the 1997 purchase, Giuseppe restored the farmstead, replanted olive groves, re-established cypress rows, and began rebuilding the vineyards around the native varieties he found already growing there.

The old-vine parcel became the estate's core argument. Rather than grub up the pre-1900 vines and replant with certified modern clones, the family chose to preserve them. The clones in those rows, identified as Sangiovese Forte and Sangiovese Polveroso among others, carry characteristics that have been bred out of commercially available plant material: lower yields, looser bunches, a different aromatic profile in the finished wine. The family kept the oldest material and did not replant it.

By 2010, production had grown enough to need a larger cellar. The new building was designed to handle modern volumes while keeping vinification close to traditional forms. Nicola Cantoni, who had by then taken over winemaking entirely, uses it to separate parcels and varieties so that the old-vine fruit is not blended away into a house style.

Vineyards And Cellar

The old-vine parcel covers approximately 2.5 hectares and holds the pre-1900 Sangiovese material. Yields from vines of that age are low by definition: old root systems sink deeper, fruit load is self-limiting, and bunches arrive at harvest with concentrated flavour and thicker skins. That skin contact during fermentation adds colour, tannin and grip to Ceppatella.

The remaining 17.5 hectares of younger vines, planted within the last two decades, supply the other wines. Farming across the estate follows organic practices, with only organic fertilisers applied to the surrounding land. Certification status has not been formally confirmed by an independent body in sources available for this page.

Cellar detail for individual wines beyond what the estate has published is not confirmed in current sources. Fermentation vessels, maceration durations and oak regimes for each wine are described on the estate's own product pages and should be taken from those directly.

Wines

Fattoria Fibbiano makes three wines that anchor the range.

Ceppatella is the red from the old-vine parcel. Sangiovese from vines over a century old, grown on the fossil-marine hilltop soil. The wine is dark and full-bodied, with firm tannin from the thick-skinned old-vine fruit, red cherry and dried herb character, an earthy mineral note that reflects the Pliocene soil beneath the roots, and enough acid line to carry it through age. Wine Enthusiast tasted the 2018 vintage blind and found a wine structured for the medium term.

Fonte delle Donne is the estate's white blend, Vermentino and Colombana grown on the valley floor. The two grapes bring different things: Vermentino contributes aromatics, body and a slightly bitter finish; Colombana adds freshness and a softer floral note. Together they make a white that is more textured and layered than a single-variety Vermentino alone. Wine Enthusiast tasted the 2019 vintage and noted its aromatic range and drinkability.

Vermentino Toscana IGT is the single-variety white, made entirely from Vermentino. It is lighter and more directly aromatic than Fonte delle Donne, a wine for early drinking rather than cellaring.

In The Glass

Ceppatella opens with dark cherry, dried sage and a faint iron note that rises from the glass before fruit takes over. On the palate it is medium-full, the tannin firm and a little grainy in youth, the acidity carrying the fruit rather than fighting it. The finish is long and mineral, with a dry herbal echo that stays. It is a wine built to sit in a cellar for three to five years before it opens fully.

Fonte delle Donne moves differently. The nose is aromatic and floral, with stone fruit and a faint saline note from the valley-floor soil. In the mouth it fills more than a simple Vermentino: the Colombana brings freshness and some floral texture, while the Vermentino adds weight and a characteristic bitter almond edge on the finish. It drinks well young but holds its shape over a meal.

The Vermentino Toscana is bright and clean, grapefruit-forward, with a citrus-peel finish and the slightly bitter mineral quality found in Vermentino from this part of Tuscany is worth seeking out over cheaper coastal versions.

A Bottle To Understand It

Ceppatella is the right first bottle. It is a Sangiovese grown from vines planted before 1900 on fossil-marine hilltop soil, vinified on site by a winemaker who keeps the old-vine fruit separate from the rest of the range. What arrives in the glass is a wine with dark cherry, dried herb and a pronounced mineral edge, firm tannin that softens over time, and an acid line that holds everything together through a long finish. It is not a polished Chianti Classico: it is rougher at the edges in youth, more specific in its mineral character, and more interesting precisely because of that specificity. Start with the youngest available vintage and return to it three years later. Both experiences teach something different about what the hilltop at Terricciola produces.

Anecdote

In 1997, before Giuseppe Cantoni signed the papers on Fattoria Fibbiano, he walked the land with his sons to see what they were actually buying. Near the top of the hill they found a vineyard that looked different from the rest: the vines were older, the trunks thicker and more gnarled, the spacing irregular in the way that planting before mechanisation always is. When they asked about the age, they were told the rows had been there since before the turn of the century, before 1900. A viticulturist later identified the plant material as Sangiovese clones that had been bred out of commercial production decades earlier, varieties listed in old ampelographies but no longer available from nurseries. Giuseppe chose not to replant. The vines still stand on that hilltop, still yielding in the low and irregular way that old vines do, and the wine they produce is now called Ceppatella, bottled under the family name.

Final Word

Fattoria Fibbiano makes a coherent argument about place: that Terricciola's fossil-marine soils and its century-old Sangiovese clones produce something that cannot be replicated from a nursery catalogue or a more famous appellation. The three wines are distinct from each other and honest about what they are. Ceppatella is the wine to start with and the wine to come back to.

Sources

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