From the atlas
Fattoria Poggerino
At A Glance
Producer: Fattoria Poggerino Location: Radda in Chianti, Siena, Tuscany, Italy Appellation: Chianti Classico DOCG Grape: Sangiovese (primary), Merlot (minor) Vineyard: approximately 11 hectares, all estate-grown Key people: Piero Lanza (winemaker, agronomist), Benedetta Lanza (hospitality) House aim: ageworthy concentration with sweet tannins that allow early drinking
The Producer
Fattoria Poggerino sits on a small hill called Poggerino in Radda in Chianti, a village in the northern part of the Chianti Classico zone in Tuscany. Piero Lanza makes the wine and manages the vineyards; his sister Benedetta runs the agriturismo in the old stone houses on the property. The two siblings came back to the farm in the 1980s to take over from their parents, and since then have run every stage themselves: vine to cellar to marketing, no outside fruit, no third party.
The property covers 43 hectares in total. About 11 of those are planted to vine, almost entirely Sangiovese, with roughly one hectare of Merlot. The rest of the hill holds stone farmhouses, olive groves, a vegetable garden and a historic church. The name comes directly from the Tuscan dialect word for a small hill.
Place
Radda in Chianti sits at higher elevation than much of the Chianti Classico zone, and Poggerino's vineyards push that altitude further: between 400 and 500 metres above sea level, facing south to southwest. The exposure gives maximum sun hours; the altitude keeps the nights cool and slows ripening enough to preserve acidity and aromatic freshness in the Sangiovese. Radda wines tend to be leaner and more aromatic than those from lower, warmer Panzano or Castelnuovo Berardenga, and the hill position at Poggerino amplifies that character.
Chianti Classico DOCG is the governing appellation. All Poggerino bottles carry that designation, placing them within the historic central Chianti zone between Florence and Siena. Within that zone, Radda is a commune with its own thermal profile and soil character, distinct enough to read on the palate.
Soil And Site
The soils at Poggerino are rich in galestro, a crumbly schist-like rock common across the Chianti Classico zone. As the rock breaks down, it leaves a stony skeleton in the topsoil that drains water rapidly. Vines on galestro-dominant soils rarely sit in wet ground; roots go deep to find moisture, which concentrates fruit flavour and limits vine vigour. The combination of stony galestro drainage and the south-southwest slope means the Sangiovese reaches good ripeness without accumulating excess alcohol.
Story
Piero and Benedetta Lanza took the farm over from their parents in the 1980s when Chianti Classico was still recovering from the reputation damage done by bulk overproduction in the 1960s and 1970s. The siblings chose farming as the foundation of the operation: no pesticides, no herbicides, no synthetic fungicides. Weeds come out mechanically. Parasites are managed with Bacillus thuringiensis, a bacterial control used instead of chemical sprays. Sulfur and a minimal amount of copper are the only fungal treatments applied.
Fertility comes from composted manure sourced from a neighbouring organic farm, and every vineyard, olive grove and vegetable garden is sown with annual green manure. When a vineyard block reaches the end of its productive life and is pulled out, the ground is left fallow for seven to nine years before replanting begins. That decision costs yield. It is an unusual commitment at a time when many producers replant immediately, and it reflects a house logic that privileges soil health over short-term production volume.
Poggerino uses only grapes from its own vineyards, and the owners manage production from vineyard work through vinification and marketing.
Vineyards And Cellar
The 11 hectares of vineyard at Poggerino sit between 400 and 500 metres on south-southwest-facing slopes. Sangiovese covers approximately 10 of those hectares. The long fallow periods between vineyard generations mean that at any given time only the mature blocks are in production, and the vine age across the estate reflects decades of careful rotation rather than continuous cropping.
The estate Chianti Classico undergoes approximately 35 days of vinification and maceration in concrete, with pumpovers and manual punchdowns throughout. Concrete maintains a stable temperature without imparting oak character, which allows the fruit and soil to come through without interference. The extended maceration extracts colour, tannin and flavour across the full cycle rather than cutting the process short. Piero Lanza aims for a balance between ageworthy tannin depth and a texture that drinks well young: concentration without hardness.
Wines
The range at Poggerino has two confirmed bottlings, both built on Sangiovese from estate fruit.
The Chianti Classico is the entry-level bottling and the volume wine. It is 100% Sangiovese, vinified and macerated for approximately 35 days in concrete. The long skin contact gives the wine firm tannin and good colour, while the concrete élevage keeps the fruit direct and the palate dry. At this altitude in Radda, Sangiovese tends toward red cherry, dried herbs and firm acidity; the concrete process preserves those primary characters without adding spice or smoke from oak.
The Vigna Bugialla Chianti Classico Riserva draws from a single vineyard planted in 1973, the oldest on the estate. A riserva in the Chianti Classico DOCG must meet minimum ageing requirements beyond the standard bottling, and the older vines at Vigna Bugialla deliver lower yields and more concentrated fruit than the younger blocks. Where the Chianti Classico is built for drinking across a range of vintages without ceremony, Vigna Bugialla is the old-vine reference point: deeper, denser, and built to age.
In The Glass
Across the Poggerino range, Sangiovese from this altitude and soil type shows a red fruit core, notably sour cherry and dried cranberry, with a floral lift and earthy, mineral undertones. The galestro soils and high-altitude position produce acidity that is firm and mouthwatering rather than sharp. On the palate, the tannins are present but not aggressive, which aligns with the estate's stated aim of combining concentration with a texture that permits early drinking.
The Chianti Classico comes across as lean and precise: the red fruit is clear, the tannin is integrated from the long maceration, and the finish is dry with good length. Vigna Bugialla deepens that profile: the older vines produce a more saturated mid-palate, with tannins and fruit density to reward several years of bottle age. Both wines are dry throughout.
A Bottle To Understand It
Start with the Chianti Classico. It is 100% Sangiovese, 35 days in concrete, sourced from estate vines in Radda at altitude. The wine is dry, firm and direct: sour cherry and dried herbs, bright acidity from the galestro soils and cool nights, and a tannin weight that is genuine without being austere. It opens young and improves with a few years in the bottle. No oak, no softening agents, no blending grapes. It is the clearest single statement of what the hill at Poggerino produces.
Anecdote
In the 1980s, Piero and Benedetta Lanza drove back to the family property on the hill at Poggerino and divided up what there was to do. Piero took the vineyards and the cellar. Benedetta took the stone houses and the guests. Their parents had run the farm before them, and the hill had been in the family since it was separated from a larger estate and divided among its heirs in the 1970s. What made the division between siblings memorable was not the split itself but the decision that followed it: the two of them agreed to run the whole chain without outside labour, without bought-in fruit, and without the chemical inputs that most neighbours still relied on. Piero pulled weeds mechanically and ordered Bacillus thuringiensis instead of pesticide. Benedetta opened the old stone houses as guest rooms. The 43-hectare hill became, over the following decades, a single closed system: one winemaker, one agronomist, one hospitality operation, all Sangiovese, all Poggerino.
Final Word
Fattoria Poggerino is a small hill estate in Radda in Chianti making two Sangiovese-led Chianti Classico wines from 11 hectares of its own vines. The farming is biological throughout, the ageing of pulled-out vineyards runs seven to nine years before replanting, and every decision from vine to marketing runs through Piero and Benedetta Lanza. The Chianti Classico is the place to begin.
Sources
- https://poggerino-chianti-italy.com/en/winery/
- https://www.volioimports.com/hello-poggerino/
- https://poggerino-chianti-italy.com/it/prodotto/chianti-classico/
- https://poggerino-chianti-italy.com/en/prodotto/