Italy · Chianti Hills

Isole e Olena

Chianti Classico estate in San Donato in Poggio making Sangiovese-led appellation wine and the estate Sangiovese IGT Cepparello from 56 hectares of galestro and marly schist at 350 to 450 metres.

The producer

Isole e Olena sits on the western edge of Chianti Classico, in the UGA of San Donato in Poggio halfway between Florence and Siena. The estate takes its name from two medieval villages that lawyer Francesco De Marchi joined under single ownership in 1956. When his son Paolo arrived in 1976 to manage badly neglected vineyards, he replanted two-thirds of the vines with low-yielding Sangiovese clones, doubled planting density, restored stone terraces and spent years mapping the estate's galestro and marly-schist soils parcel by parcel. His first vintage was 1978. Two years later he bottled the first Cepparello, a pure Sangiovese aged in small French oak barrels and labelled as a Toscana IGT rather than submitted for DOCG classification. That ratio, estate Sangiovese outside the appellation system sold at a premium above the appellation wine, has held for over forty years.

The vineyards cover 56 hectares at 350 to 450 metres, cooled by maritime breezes off the western slopes and planted on crumbly galestro and marly schist that drains quickly and pushes vine roots deep. Both soils produce Sangiovese with bright acidity and firm tannins rather than warmth or weight, and the altitude lengthens the growing season so the fruit arrives concentrated rather than soft. In 2022, EPI Group, a French company owned by Christofer Descours, acquired the estate. Emanuele Reolon became director after a year working alongside Paolo De Marchi. A vineyard-replanting programme is underway and an underground winery is planned for the Isole hamlet.

Known for

Pure Sangiovese Cepparello Toscana IGT; Chianti Classico DOCG

Notable facts

The story

The First Cepparello

In 1980, Paolo De Marchi bottled the first Cepparello from old-vine Sangiovese parcels at Isole e Olena. Chianti Classico at the time still operated under rules that encouraged blending in Canaiolo and Trebbiano, and the dominant habit of the zone was to submit all the estate's best red for DOCG classification. De Marchi chose differently: he vinified pure Sangiovese from the oldest parcels and aged it in small French oak barrels, neither of which aligned with what the appellation required. Rather than argue the wine into the DOCG system, he labelled it as a Toscana IGT, placing it formally below the appellation wines while charging more for it than any of them. The name Cepparello came from a row of cypress trees on the estate. The wine sold. The IGT label stayed. Cepparello has carried no appellation on the front label for over forty years.

From the atlas

Isole e Olena

At A Glance

EstateIsole e Olena
LocationBarberino Tavarnelle, Florence, UGA San Donato in Poggio, Chianti Classico
Vineyards56 hectares
Altitude350 to 450 metres
SoilsGalestro and marly schist
Key GrapesSangiovese, Canaiolo
Key WinesChianti Classico DOCG, Cepparello Toscana IGT
OwnershipEPI Group (since 2022)

The Producer

Isole e Olena sits on the western edge of Chianti Classico, halfway between Florence and Siena, in the UGA of San Donato in Poggio. The estate takes its name from two medieval villages that were brought under a single ownership in the 1950s; lawyer Francesco De Marchi founded it in 1956. The Isole hamlet now houses the winery, a tasting room and a terrace that looks out over the Elsa Valley.

The wines that made this estate's reputation were shaped almost entirely by one person. Paolo De Marchi arrived in 1976, aged around 25, to manage property that had been planted in a way that made good wine difficult. He replanted two-thirds of the vines with low-yielding clones, doubled planting density, restored abandoned terraces and spent years mapping the estate's galestro and marly-schist soils through massal selection. His first vintage was 1978. His first Cepparello followed two years later. He ran the estate for 46 years.

In 2022, EPI Group, a French company owned by Christofer Descours, acquired Isole e Olena. Emanuele Reolon became estate director after spending a year alongside De Marchi. A vineyard-replanting programme is underway, and an underground winery is planned for the Isole hamlet.

Place

The western slopes of Chianti Classico sit above the Elsa Valley at an altitude that does real work on the wines. At 350 to 450 metres, the growing season runs cooler and longer than on the zone's lower ground, and the western orientation pulls in maritime breezes from the coast. The combination keeps acidity high and ripening gradual, which is how Sangiovese from this corner of Chianti Classico ends up with more grip on the finish and less of the soft, plum-led warmth that comes from flatter, lower sites.

The administrative address is Barberino Tavarnelle, in the province of Florence. The UGA designation is San Donato in Poggio, one of eleven Unità Geografiche Aggiuntive that Chianti Classico introduced in 2014 to allow producers to label wines by sub-zone. Isole e Olena's bottles carry the estate name rather than the UGA name, but the altitude and aspect are legible in the glass.

Soil And Site

Galestro is the dominant soil type at Isole e Olena: a crumbly, friable limestone-schist formation that drains quickly after rain and forces vine roots to dig deep for water. Marly schist runs alongside it in several parcels, adding clay content and slightly more water retention. Together the two soils produce Sangiovese with firm tannins and bright acidity rather than weight or softness.

Paolo De Marchi mapped the estate's galestro composition parcel by parcel during his vineyard renovation work after 1976. The decision to restore the old stone terraces was partly a soil-erosion calculation: on steep ground, mechanised farming moves topsoil downhill with every pass. Terracing reduces that loss and keeps the vine roots in the fractured rock layer.

Story

Francesco De Marchi founded Isole e Olena in 1956, combining two medieval villages into one estate. When his son Paolo arrived in 1976, Chianti Classico was still working through the consequences of the old DOC rules that had required blending in white grapes and diluted the region's reputation. Paolo had no obligation to those rules, and he did not follow them.

He replanted two-thirds of the vineyards with low-yielding Sangiovese clones, selected through massal work across his own vines. He doubled vine density, so each plant competed for soil and produced less fruit per vine. He brought the terraces back. These were not small decisions. Two-thirds of a vineyard is not a refinement; it is a commitment that takes a decade to see the result of.

In 1980, he bottled the first Cepparello: pure Sangiovese from old-vine parcels, aged in small French oak barrels, labelled as a Toscana IGT because no Chianti Classico classification existed yet for a wine made that way. The wine went outside the appellation system and sold for more than the estate's Chianti Classico. That ratio held.

In June 2022, after 46 years, Paolo De Marchi sold the estate to EPI Group. He stayed for a year to work alongside Emanuele Reolon before handing over. Reolon has launched a replanting programme across the estate and is planning a new underground winery in the Isole hamlet.

Vineyards And Cellar

The 56 hectares of vineyards are farmed with treatments applied only when vine growth and disease-development data indicate a genuine need. The terraces, restored under Paolo De Marchi and maintained since, keep mechanisation to a minimum on the steeper ground and preserve the shallow galestro layer where it matters most.

In the cellar, the two main reds follow clearly different paths. Chianti Classico is blended from 90% Sangiovese and 10% Canaiolo and aged for 12 months in large oak casks. Large-format ageing softens the oak contribution; the wood is there to stabilise and allow slow oxygen contact rather than to add flavour. Cepparello is 100% Sangiovese, aged 18 months across multiple French-oak formats, then held for a further 12 months in bottle before release. The smaller barrels and longer total ageing time draw out more of the grape's tannin and allow the oak to integrate over three years from harvest to release.

Wines

Chianti Classico DOCG is the estate's appellation wine: 90% Sangiovese and 10% Canaiolo, drawn from across the estate's 56 hectares and unified by 12 months in large oak casks. Bright and dried cherry sit alongside violet and liquorice on the nose; the palate is supple and refreshing, with light tannins and a crunchy finish. It is the wine that reflects the full estate rather than any single parcel, and the Canaiolo component softens the Sangiovese's natural austerity without blurring it.

Cepparello Toscana IGT is pure Sangiovese, selected from old-vine parcels, aged 18 months in French oak and then a full year in bottle. The longer ageing and the smaller oak format pull out more tannin and allow it to knit over time; the wine releases later and needs more time in a glass or cellar to open. The IGT label places it outside the Chianti Classico DOCG hierarchy, but the farming, the grape selection and the cellar time place it above the estate's Chianti Classico in every other respect.

Beyond the two reds, the range includes Chardonnay and Syrah labelled as Toscana IGT, and a Vin Santo di Chianti Classico.

In The Glass

The Chianti Classico rises from the glass with dried cherry and violet, a thread of liquorice underneath. The palate is cooler than many Chianti Classico examples from lower sites: the acidity is bright, the tannins are light but present, and the finish is crunchy rather than warm. The galestro keeps the wine on the lean side of Sangiovese, and the altitude keeps the fruit from going soft.

Cepparello takes the same grape and the same soils to a different conclusion. The 18-month French-oak ageing and the extra year in bottle add depth without adding weight; the wine shows more dried fruit and darker spice on the nose, a firmer mid-palate, and a finish that runs longer. The tannins need time, either in the cellar or in a large glass with food. Opening a bottle young shows velvety tannins and crisp integrated acidity but misses the integration.

Across both wines, the site signature is consistent: acidity that lifts the finish, tannins that come from the grape and soil rather than extraction, and fruit that reads closer to dried than to fresh, reflecting the galestro's low water retention and the altitude's long growing season.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the Chianti Classico DOCG. It is the wine that carries the estate's full 56-hectare footprint in a single bottle, and the 12 months in large oak casks bring the Sangiovese forward without burying it. Bright cherry, violet and a crunchy finish on a supple, acid-driven frame: this is what Sangiovese on galestro at altitude tastes like, without the complexity of small-barrel ageing or the price of Cepparello. Buy it young, open it with food, and it will make the site's character legible. Then go back and try Cepparello to understand what cellar time and old-vine selection add to the same ground.

Anecdote

In 1980, Paolo De Marchi bottled the first Cepparello from old-vine Sangiovese parcels at Isole e Olena. Chianti Classico at the time still operated under rules that encouraged blending in Canaiolo and Trebbiano, and the dominant habit of the zone was to submit all the estate's best red for DOCG classification. De Marchi chose differently: he vinified pure Sangiovese from the oldest parcels and aged it in small French oak barrels, neither of which aligned with what the appellation required. Rather than argue the wine into the DOCG system, he labelled it as a Toscana IGT, placing it formally below the appellation wines while charging more for it than any of them. The name Cepparello came from a row of cypress trees on the estate. The wine sold. The IGT label stayed. Cepparello has carried no appellation on the front label for over forty years.

Final Word

Isole e Olena is a single estate with two clearly separated wines and one clearly traceable arc: Francesco De Marchi assembled the land in 1956, Paolo De Marchi rebuilt the vineyards from 1976 and bottled the first Cepparello in 1980, and EPI Group acquired it in 2022 with the work largely done. The galestro, the altitude and the western breezes are fixed. The question now is what Emanuele Reolon does with the replanting programme and the underground winery. The Chianti Classico is the estate in a straightforward bottle. Cepparello is the estate's argument.

Sources

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