From the atlas
Fattoria Giuseppe Savini
At A Glance
- Country: Italy
- Region: Marche
- Founded: 1949
- Estate size: 600 hectares total; 80 hectares vineyard
- Altitude: 300 to 350 metres
- Listed wine: Shedar Frizzante (Chardonnay and Pecorino)
- Farming: Sustainable integrated, with cover crops and site-matched varieties
- Cellar: Temperature-controlled stainless steel and centuries-old brick barrel room
The Producer
Fattoria Giuseppe Savini is a family agricultural estate in the Marche, the long Adriatic region of central Italy where the land tilts from the coast toward the Apennine spine. Vincenzo Savini built the estate from 1949, and when his son Giuseppe took it over, the name stayed on the label as an anchor for the family name. Giuseppe's four sons, Giovanni, Michele, Simone and Sigismondo, now run the property together. A fourth generation has begun shaping the vineyard and cellar direction through technology and sustainability.
The scale of the operation is what sets it apart from a straightforward wine estate. At 600 hectares divided into three working units, Savini is primarily a farm: 80 hectares planted to vine, ten to olive, and the remainder growing grain and vegetables. The vineyard is the specialised edge of a much larger agricultural body, and that context matters for how the wines are made and sold. Every vine parcel is chosen and matched to its variety by soil character, aspect and drainage. Nothing about this operation is accidental.
Place
The Marche sits between the Adriatic to the east and the Apennines to the west. Within that corridor, Savini's vineyards occupy a band that begins a few kilometres inland from the Adriatic and climbs into the foothills of the central Apennines at 300 to 350 metres above sea level.
The practical consequence of that geography is a dual air system. Ocean breezes move in from the coast, cooling the canopy during the growing season and slowing ripening toward the warmer end of summer. Mountain winds come down from the Apennines overnight, dropping temperatures and tightening acidity in the fruit. On east or southeast-facing slopes, morning sun warms the vines early without the heat accumulation of a western exposure. Fruit can ripen fully while retaining the fresh acidity that keeps white wines from going heavy. For a sparkling wine built on Chardonnay and Pecorino, that daily temperature swing is not incidental: it is the reason the wine can hold together.
Soil And Site
The estate's three units give different soil profiles across the 600 hectares, though the vineyard land concentrated in the foothills sits on ground that rewards the deliberate variety-to-site matching Savini practises. Each variety is assigned to a parcel according to soil quality, drainage and aspect. Vines planted under that logic are stressed in the right direction: not so much that the plant shuts down, enough that the fruit concentrates without requiring corrective chemistry. Cover crops grow between rows to build soil biodiversity and compete lightly with the vines for water during dry spells, which keeps root systems working deeper into the ground. Olive groves occupy ten hectares of a separate unit, and their care follows the same philosophy of minimal intervention and single cold pressing for the oil.
Story
Vincenzo Savini founded the estate in 1949, farming land that ran well beyond what a wine operation alone would require. The farm he built was agricultural before it was viticultural: grain, vegetables, olives and vines sharing the same property, each sector managed as a working unit rather than a backdrop for the winery.
Giuseppe inherited that model and kept it intact. When the estate passed to his four sons, the question was not whether to simplify it into a dedicated wine farm but how to run 600 hectares of mixed land with the same attention Vincenzo had applied from the beginning. The cellar was built in the 2000s and has since been expanded, a deliberate investment in a modern facility that could handle the fruit coming from 80 vineyard hectares with controlled processing. Running alongside that new facility, an older brick barrel room continues to age the wines under natural thermoregulation, its thick walls holding temperature without mechanical assistance. The cellar combines temperature controlled stainless steel tanks with a centuries old brick barrel room.
The fourth generation is now active, bringing data-driven sustainability work into a property that uses integrated farming practices. Cover crops, habitat management and site-matched variety selection are the current instruments. Four generations have remained connected to the farm, whose scale and diversified character continue to shape the wines.
Vineyards And Cellar
Eighty hectares of vineyard spread across east and southeast-facing slopes in the foothills at 300 to 350 metres. The dual air system of sea breezes and mountain winds moderates temperatures through the growing season, and the site-matching approach places each variety where its root system and ripening rhythm suit the available soil and drainage. Cover crops compete mildly with the vines for soil moisture, which keeps the root systems reaching deeper and the fruit tighter.
Harvested grapes are sorted and destemmed before gentle pressing. Fermentation runs in temperature-controlled stainless-steel tanks, which preserve primary fruit character and allow the winemaker to manage heat precisely across varieties with different aromatic profiles. Once fermented, wines move to the centuries-old brick barrel room for maturation. Large wooden vats and smaller barriques are both in use, offering different oxygen transfer rates for different wines or blend components. The brick construction keeps temperature stable without mechanical cooling, which means the wine ages slowly and evenly. The estate also cold-presses olive oil once from a proprietary olive blend, keeping the same philosophy of low intervention that runs through the vineyard and cellar.
Wines
Shedar Frizzante is the estate's documented sparkling wine, built from equal parts Chardonnay and Pecorino grown on east and southeast-facing slopes at around 300 metres. Chardonnay brings body and breadth to the blend; Pecorino, a white grape native to central Italy, contributes acidity, aromatic lift and a slightly saline mineral note that the coastal air and Apennine terrain together encourage. Both varieties are estate-grown, harvested from the altitude-cooled parcels where daily temperature swings preserve freshness through the ripening period.
Fermentation for Shedar takes place in temperature-controlled stainless-steel tanks, which keeps the wine's primary fruit and floral character intact. The estate describes its Shedar vineyards as facing east or southeast, benefiting from morning sun rather than afternoon heat. Beyond Shedar, the estate makes additional wines from its 80 vineyard hectares, but no further cuvee details are currently confirmed.
In The Glass
Shedar Frizzante opens with light floral and orchard-fruit aromas: the Chardonnay contributing pear and white apple, the Pecorino adding a slightly herbaceous, saline edge that lifts the nose. The frizzante mousse is gentle and fine, less aggressive than a fully sparkling wine, which allows the fruit character to stay forward on the palate rather than being overtaken by carbonic bite.
On the palate, the equal-parts blend gives a wine with enough weight from the Chardonnay to feel present but enough acidity from the Pecorino to feel alive. The finish is clean and moderately long, with the saline, lightly mineral note of the Pecorino carrying through after the fruit drops away. The coastal and mountain air of the Marche foothills shows in the way the wine stays fresh without going lean: ripe enough to drink comfortably, cool enough to hold its shape through a meal.
A Bottle To Understand It
Shedar Frizzante is the bottle to start with. It is a 50/50 blend of Chardonnay and Pecorino, grown on the estate's east-facing foothills at 300 metres and fermented in stainless steel to keep the fruit clear and the acidity bright. Pecorino is central Italy's most characterful native white grape: it gives the wine a saline, slightly bitter mineral edge that anchors the Chardonnay's softer orchard-fruit breadth. The frizzante format, with its gentle mousse and lighter pressure, makes the wine approachable at the table rather than celebratory in the way a fully sparkling wine tends to be. Shedar is made from estate-grown grapes and is fermented in stainless steel.
Anecdote
Vincenzo Savini built a 600-hectare working farm in the Marche from 1949, a property large enough to divide into three separate agricultural units. When the estate eventually passed to his son Giuseppe, and then to Giuseppe's four sons together, the practical problem was not which direction to take the winery but how four brothers, Giovanni, Michele, Simone and Sigismondo, would share responsibility for a farm that grows grain, olives, vegetables and wine grapes across that spread of land. Each son is personally involved in operations. The property has not been simplified or split; it has been run as a single body across three generations, with a fourth generation now beginning to bring data and sustainability work into the mix. The farm that Vincenzo started is still the frame everything else fits inside.
Final Word
Fattoria Giuseppe Savini is a working farm first and a winery second, and the wines carry that context. Eighty hectares of vineyard on altitude-cooled, sea-breezed slopes in the Marche produce a sparkling wine, Shedar Frizzante, built from Chardonnay and the native Pecorino grape in equal measure. The cellar combines modern stainless-steel fermentation with centuries-old brick for maturation. Four brothers run the estate today, a fourth generation is already at work, and the 600-hectare mixed farm that Vincenzo Savini built in 1949 remains the operating model.
Sources
- https://fattoriagiuseppesavini.com/en/
- https://fattoriagiuseppesavini.com/en/the-vineyards/
- https://fattoriagiuseppesavini.com/en/sustainability/
- https://fattoriagiuseppesavini.com/en/the-cellar/
- https://www.francowineimport.com/collections/savini
- https://fattoriagiuseppesavini.com/en/bollicine/shedar/
- https://www.systembolaget.se/produkt/vin/shedar-7547901/