Italy · Romagna Hills (Forlì-Cesena, Ravenna, Rimini)

Fattoria Nicolucci di Nicolucci Alessandro

Old-vine Sangiovese from a clifftop village in Romagna's hills, farmed by one family since 1885 on dry, mineral, clay-heavy soils.

The producer

Fattoria Nicolucci sits on a rock spur at 247 metres in Predappio Alta, a small hilltop village in the Romagna hills about sixty kilometres south of Bologna. Alessandro Nicolucci is the fourth generation of his family to farm here, working ten hectares of old-vine parcels on dry, clay-heavy soils above former sulphur quarries. He is both owner and winemaker, and the range he produces is built almost entirely around Sangiovese, the grape Predappio Alta has cultivated since before any other part of the region thought to write the rules down.

Four Sangiovese-based reds form the core of the estate. Tre Rocche, made from large, oval-berried Sangiovese and matured for six months in large oak, is light, fresh and direct: lively acidity, minimal tannin, a clean fruit-and-spice finish. Vigna del Generale, the single-vineyard flagship, is fermented for 35 days with indigenous yeasts in small wooden vessels, producing polished tannins and a long aftertaste built for development. Sparkling whites from Trebbiano and Pinot and a sweet Albana complete the picture. Annual output runs from approximately 70,000 to 80,000 bottles across all wines.

Known for

Romagna Sangiovese DOC, old vines, Predappio Alta

Notable facts

The story

The Oldest Law on the Hill

In 1383, the town council of Predappio Alta sat down and wrote out exactly how Sangiovese should be cultivated around the castle walls. Not in general terms: the statutes were specific, setting rules on how the vines were to be grown to secure the best possible fruit from the hillside. The council was not writing a philosophical position on Romagna wine; they were protecting a crop they already depended on, and they were precise enough about it to commit the rules to law. That document survives. The hillside it governed still carries Sangiovese vines today, the oldest on the estate running to ninety years of age, and the village name appears on every Romagna Sangiovese DOC Superiore bottle that Alessandro Nicolucci sends out from the winery his family has run since 1885. Six hundred and forty-odd years separate the statute from the current label. The grape is the same.

From the atlas

Fattoria Nicolucci di Nicolucci Alessandro

At A Glance

The Producer

Fattoria Nicolucci sits on a clifftop spur in Predappio Alta, a small hilltop village in the Romagna hills roughly sixty kilometres south of Bologna. The family has farmed here since 1885, and Alessandro Nicolucci is the fourth generation to lead the estate. He is both owner and winemaker, working ten hectares of old-vine parcels on dry, mineral soils above a landscape of former sulphur quarries.

The estate's range is built on Sangiovese. Four Sangiovese-based reds form the core, from a lighter, accessible bottling to a single-vineyard flagship. Sparkling whites from Trebbiano and Pinot, and a sweet wine from Albana, complete the picture. Annual output reportedly runs from approximately 70,000 to 80,000 bottles across all wines.

Place

Predappio Alta rises to 247 metres on a rock spur above the Romagna hills. The elevation brings cooler nights and stronger diurnal shifts than the plains below, and the position on a clifftop narrows the cultivable area and concentrates the old-vine parcels on exposed, wind-dried slopes. Sangiovese here labels as Romagna Sangiovese DOC, the appellation that covers the grape across this stretch of Emilia-Romagna. At Predappio Alta, that designation carries an older local connection than almost anywhere else in the region.

The village has documentary evidence of Sangiovese cultivation dating to 1383, when its town statutes prescribed exactly how the grape should be grown around the castle walls. The same hillside now produces estate wine carrying the Romagna Sangiovese DOC label, with the Nicolucci family's history on the site reaching back 140 years within that much longer arc.

Soil And Site

The soils at Predappio Alta are dry, clay-heavy, and stony, with sulphur in the subsoil from former solfatara quarries in the surrounding area. Clay retains moisture but also compresses drainage, so the combination of clifftop exposure, thin stony topsoil, and poor subsoil forces the vines to work for water and nutrients. The result in the fruit is concentration rather than volume, and the dry conditions suppress yields naturally without intervention. Vine ages across the estate range from twenty to ninety years, with the oldest parcels among the longest-lived in the local area.

Story

The Nicolucci family began producing wine at Predappio Alta in 1885. For more than a century, the estate passed through the generations without leaving the hilltop or the grape it had always grown. Alessandro Nicolucci took charge as the fourth generation, moving into the role of winemaker as well as owner. Under his stewardship, the estate introduced a named single-vineyard wine, Vigna del Generale, sitting above the wider Sangiovese range as a longer-fermented flagship from a specific parcel. That decision created a two-tier architecture in the reds: a more approachable bottling in Tre Rocche, and a wine built for time in the cellar and the glass at the top.

The winery today includes an old caveau alongside barriques and a tasting room open to visitors.

Vineyards And Cellar

The ten hectares at Predappio Alta are planted mainly to Sangiovese, with smaller proportions of Trebbiano, Pinot and Albana. Vine age varies significantly across the parcels, from twenty-year-old plants to ninety-year-old stumps that rank among the oldest in the area. Older vines produce smaller crops of more concentrated fruit, a factor that feeds directly into the top-tier wines.

For Vigna del Generale, fermentation runs for 35 days using indigenous yeasts in small wooden vessels. That extended maceration draws more tannin and colour from the skins, and the indigenous yeast population contributes complexity that a selected commercial strain would not. For Tre Rocche, the wine matures for six months in large oak before additional bottle ageing. Large oak at this duration imparts minimal flavour but allows a slow, controlled micro-oxidation that rounds the lighter tannins in the fruit without adding oak character to the glass.

Wines

The four Sangiovese-based reds move from early-drinking to cellar-ready. Tre Rocche, made entirely from large, oval-berried Sangiovese, sits at the approachable end: lighter body, lively acidity, a clean fruit-and-spice finish, and tannin that does not demand time. Vigna del Generale is the single-vineyard wine, fermented long and slow, with polished tannins built for development and an aftertaste that lingers well past the first impression. The remaining two Sangiovese reds in the range are not individually characterised in the packet.

Beyond the reds, Grigio d'Appio Bianco Frizzante is a lightly sparkling white from Trebbiano and Pinot. Grigio Brut Spumante is a sparkling wine from the same varieties. The Albana sweet wine completes the range, though its precise style remains unconfirmed.

In The Glass

Tre Rocche opens with red fruit and a faint spice note from the large, oval-berried Sangiovese. In the mouth, the acidity is lively and forward, cutting through any richness and keeping the wine feeling fresh rather than heavy. The tannins are light and unobtrusive, and the finish is clean: fruit and spice in a short, direct close. There is no oak character from the large-oak maturation, only the softening it allows.

Vigna del Generale reads differently. The longer fermentation draws more extract and tannin from the skins, and the wine in the glass reflects that: fuller body, firmer grip, and an aftertaste that runs long past the moment of swallowing. Both wines are dry. Both are from the same clifftop clay soils, but the contrast in method produces two clearly distinct drinking experiences from the same grape on the same hillside.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Tre Rocche, the Romagna Sangiovese DOC Superiore. It is made entirely from the large, oval-berried Sangiovese parcels on the estate, matured for six months in large oak and given additional bottle ageing before release. In the glass it is light, fresh and direct: lively acidity, minimal tannin, a clean fruit-and-spice finish with no oak overlay. Tre Rocche has lively acidity, light tannin and a clean fruit-and-spice finish. Once you have tasted it, Vigna del Generale makes sense as a deliberate step up in weight, fermentation time and ambition.

Anecdote

In 1383, the town council of Predappio Alta sat down and wrote out exactly how Sangiovese should be cultivated around the castle walls. Not in general terms: the statutes were specific, setting rules on how the vines were to be grown to secure the best possible fruit from the hillside. The council was not writing a philosophical position on Romagna wine; they were protecting a crop they already depended on, and they were precise enough about it to commit the rules to law. That document survives. The hillside it governed still carries Sangiovese vines today, the oldest on the estate running to ninety years of age, and the village name appears on every Romagna Sangiovese DOC Superiore bottle that Alessandro Nicolucci sends out from the winery his family has run since 1885. Six hundred and forty-odd years separate the statute from the current label. The grape is the same.

Final Word

Fattoria Nicolucci is a small old-vine estate on one of Romagna's most historically documented Sangiovese hillsides. The range is built without complexity for its own sake: Tre Rocche for early drinking, Vigna del Generale for those who want more weight and time. The clifftop soils and the vine ages do the main work.

Sources

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