Italy · Maremma Grosseto

Podere San Cristoforo

Biodynamic coastal Tuscan estate making varietal Petit Verdot and a six-biotype Sangiovese from iron- and graphite-rich gravel.

The producer

Lorenzo Zonin owns and makes the wine at Podere San Cristoforo, a small biodynamic estate on the Tuscan Coast where the starting point is always subtraction. Commercial yeast is out. Synthetic fertilisers, insecticides and herbicides are out. In the vineyard, the only treatments are copper and sulfur. The winery is built underground to hold temperature without refrigeration. Davide Elisei manages the estate and oversees viticulture; Filippo Paolicchi runs the cellar. Between them, the three work a property where almost every standard winemaking input has been removed before the harvest even begins.

Two grapes anchor the range, and both do things here they rarely do elsewhere. Sangiovese grows in the Carandelle vineyard, planted not from commercial nursery clones but from six distinct biotypes sourced from historically important Tuscan vineyards, co-propagated in a single plot. Petit Verdot grows on the same ochre gravel under direct sea-breeze influence, a grape almost always used as a minority component in Bordeaux-style blends, given enough coastal freshness here to carry a bottle on its own. Iron- and graphite-rich soil, dry farming and manual work keep yields low and the wines specific to this patch of coast.

Known for

Varietal Petit Verdot and a six-biotype Sangiovese from biodynamic coastal gravel on the Tuscan Coast.

Notable facts

The story

The Six Biotypes

Lorenzo Zonin did not go to a nursery when he decided to plant Sangiovese in the Carandelle vineyard. He went to historic Tuscan vineyards and chose six biotypes: six genetically distinct variants of Sangiovese, each shaped by generations of selection in a specific place for specific characters. He propagated all six together in the same plot, which meant that when the vines produced fruit, the harvest was already a blend, not of different grapes but of six readings of the same grape from six different genetic histories. The 2022 vintage of Carandelle carries all six biotypes in the glass. The label does not list them; it prints a heart where the remaining fraction of the blend would otherwise be declared. Those six strains of Sangiovese, propagated from old Tuscan vines and grown side by side on coastal gravel, make every bottle of Carandelle a record of a decision that most producers never consider.

From the atlas

Podere San Cristoforo

At A Glance

CountryItaly
RegionTuscany
CoastTuscan Coast
Owner / WinemakerLorenzo Zonin
ViticulturistDavide Elisei
Cellar MasterFilippo Paolicchi
GrapesPetit Verdot, Sangiovese
FarmingBiodynamic, dry-farmed
First BottleCarandelle 2022

The Producer

Lorenzo Zonin owns and makes the wine at Podere San Cristoforo, a small biodynamic estate on the Tuscan Coast where two grapes do things they rarely do elsewhere. One is Sangiovese, grown not from nursery clones but from six distinct biotypes sourced from historically important Tuscan vineyards and re-propagated together in a single named plot. The other is Petit Verdot, a grape almost always lost inside Bordeaux blends, grown here on its own from coastal gravel with enough freshness to stand alone.

Zonin works with Davide Elisei, who manages the estate and oversees viticulture, and cellar master Filippo Paolicchi. The three of them run a property where almost every standard winemaking input has been subtracted. Commercial yeast is out. Synthetic fertilisers, insecticides and herbicides are out. In the vineyard, the treatments are copper and sulfur. In the cellar, the goal is the lowest possible chemical or mechanical intervention. The winery itself is built underground to reduce the energy required to keep it cool.

Place

The Tuscan Coast, running south from Livorno toward Grosseto, carries a different climate from the inland hills of Chianti or Montalcino. Sea breezes arrive consistently from the Tyrrhenian, cooling the vines through the afternoon and keeping acidity alive through long, sun-filled summers. That combination of warmth and marine air is what makes varietal Petit Verdot possible here. In the inland heat of Bordeaux or most of Tuscany, Petit Verdot ripens too late and too heavily to carry a bottle on its own. On this coastal strip, the breeze slows the ripening just enough.

Sangiovese also reads differently at the coast. Without the altitude and clay of Chianti Classico or the volcanic tufa of Montalcino, it leans toward freshness and direct fruit rather than weight. At Podere San Cristoforo, the Carandelle vineyard produces a Sangiovese that is specific to this patch of coast, shaped as much by the selection of biotypes as by the soil beneath them.

Soil And Site

The soils on the estate are ochre-coloured gravel carrying high concentrations of graphite and iron. Gravel drains fast, stresses the vine, and keeps yields low without human intervention. The graphite and iron content is unusual for Tuscany and adds a mineral thread to both grapes grown here. Olive trees and century-old cork oaks grow among the Petit Verdot vines, sharing the same gravel.

The estate dry-farms, meaning no irrigation supplements the natural rainfall. In a warm coastal climate on free-draining gravel, dry farming pushes roots deep and keeps crops small. Both choices, the soil type and the absence of water, work in the same direction: concentration without heaviness.

Story

The central decision at Podere San Cristoforo was not to simplify, but to subtract. Rather than reach for conventional Sangiovese clones developed for disease resistance and yield, Zonin sourced six separate Sangiovese biotypes from vineyards with long records in Tuscany. Biotypes are genetically distinct variants within the same grape variety, selected over generations in specific places for specific characters. Bringing six of them together in one vineyard and co-propagating them was a deliberate act of complexity: the resulting wine draws from six strains of the same grape, each with its own personality, fermented together from a single plot.

The same subtractive logic runs through the cellar. Night harvesting was chosen to keep the fruit cold from the moment it leaves the vine. Hand-sorting on the table removes broken, dried and unripe berries before fermentation begins, so only intact, ripe grapes enter the process. No commercial yeast is added; fermentation starts with whatever organisms live on the grape skins and in the cellar. The underground winery was built for ecological reasons rather than prestige: below ground, temperatures stay stable without refrigeration.

Vineyards And Cellar

In the vineyard, the only approved treatments are copper and sulfur, the two substances permitted across biodynamic and organic regimes for disease management. No synthetic chemistry touches the soil or the vine. Manual labour replaces most mechanical work: yields are kept low through hand work rather than mechanised hedging or thinning. Biodiversity across the estate, the olive trees, cork oaks and ground cover between rows, is treated as a farming asset rather than a cosmetic backdrop.

In the cellar, the Carandelle goes through a seven-day fermentation in stainless steel with only indigenous yeasts. Malolactic fermentation, the conversion of sharp malic acid into softer lactic acid, happens spontaneously in barrique rather than being triggered by inoculation. The wine then matures for ten months in old French-oak barriques. Old oak imparts very little flavour; it allows slow micro-oxygenation that softens tannin without adding vanilla or toast.

Wines

The range at Podere San Cristoforo is built on two grapes that rarely share a producer's focus.

Carandelle is a red wine from the named Carandelle vineyard, made from six Sangiovese biotypes co-planted and co-fermented in a single plot. The 2022 is 99% Sangiovese; the remaining fraction is indicated on the label by a heart rather than a declared variety. Seven days on skins in stainless steel, spontaneous malolactic in barrique, ten months in old French oak. The wine is fresh and persistent, with morello cherry, raspberry and blackcurrant in the fruit register and a thread of liquorice and spice behind them. Tannin is present but fully integrated into the fruit, neither grippy nor absent.

The Petit Verdot is a varietal wine from the coastal gravel parcels, grown under direct sea-breeze influence on graphite- and iron-rich soil among olive trees and cork oaks. In most of the world, Petit Verdot is a minority component in Bordeaux-style blends, added for colour and tannin. On this stretch of coast, the maritime climate allows it to ripen cleanly enough to stand alone. The precise label name is unconfirmed in available sources.

In The Glass

Carandelle opens with morello cherry and raspberry, the cooler, sharper end of the red-fruit register. Blackcurrant follows, slightly darker, and then a quiet undercurrent of liquorice and dry spice. On the palate, the acidity is clean and present without being aggressive. The tannin is fine-grained after ten months in old oak, wrapped into the fruit rather than sitting on top of it. The finish is persistent: the fruit and spice linger rather than cutting short.

The character of the wine, the freshness, the lack of oak sweetness, the integrated grip, traces back to three overlapping choices. The biotype selection brought genetic diversity and complexity into a single vineyard wine. The indigenous yeast fermentation added microbial character that commercial yeast would have smoothed away. The old-oak ageing preserved fruit definition rather than adding flavour of its own. Across both the Sangiovese and the Petit Verdot, the coastal gravel and sea-breeze site favours freshness over weight.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Carandelle 2022. It is the wine that shows every decision the estate makes in a single bottle: the six biotypes grown together in one plot, the indigenous yeast, the spontaneous malolactic, the old French oak that seasons tannin without flavouring the wine. Morello cherry and raspberry on the nose, clean acidity on entry, fine-grained tannin mid-palate, and a finish that carries the fruit and spice forward without sweetness or weight. It is a coastal Tuscan red that is specific rather than generic, interesting rather than comfortable, and honest about what the place and the method can produce.

Anecdote

Lorenzo Zonin did not go to a nursery when he decided to plant Sangiovese in the Carandelle vineyard. He went to historic Tuscan vineyards and chose six biotypes: six genetically distinct variants of Sangiovese, each shaped by generations of selection in a specific place for specific characters. He propagated all six together in the same plot, which meant that when the vines produced fruit, the harvest was already a blend, not of different grapes but of six readings of the same grape from six different genetic histories. The 2022 vintage of Carandelle carries all six biotypes in the glass. The label does not list them; it prints a heart where the remaining fraction of the blend would otherwise be declared. Those six strains of Sangiovese, propagated from old Tuscan vines and grown side by side on coastal gravel, make every bottle of Carandelle a record of a decision that most producers never consider.

Final Word

Podere San Cristoforo is a small coastal Tuscan estate that has chosen difficulty at every point: rare biotypes over commercial clones, indigenous fermentation over inoculated yeast, old oak over new, underground construction over conventional cellar refrigeration. The two grapes at the centre of the range, a varietal Petit Verdot from coastal gravel and a six-biotype Sangiovese from a single named vineyard, both do something specific to this patch of coast that they cannot do elsewhere. Carandelle 2022 is the bottle to reach for first.

Sources

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