From the atlas
Podernuovo Srl Società Agricola
At A Glance
Estate: Podernuovo a Palazzone Location: Palazzone, San Casciano dei Bagni, southern Tuscany Classification: IGT Toscana Grapes: Sangiovese, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot Wines: Therra, Sotirio, Argirio Farming: Organic, hand-harvested First harvest: 2009
The Producer
In 2004 Paolo and Giovanni Bulgari bought a property in Palazzone, in the municipality of San Casciano dei Bagni, and found the vineyards entirely abandoned. They could have replanted cautiously. Instead they cleared everything, replanted with five varieties, and waited. The first harvest came in 2009, five years after purchase.
The cellar followed in 2013, designed by architects Massimo Alvisi and Junko Kirimoto. The building is precise and intentional, a working winery that also reads as a considered object in the landscape. Three wines now come from it: Therra, a Sangiovese-led blend; Sotirio, a single-variety Sangiovese; and Argirio, a Cabernet Franc. The estate farms organically and harvests entirely by hand. The wines carry IGT Toscana on the label, which gives the estate latitude to blend freely and use varieties that fall outside the local DOCG rules.
Place
San Casciano dei Bagni sits in the far south of Tuscany, close to the border with Umbria and Lazio. It is not Chianti country. There are no famous classified growths nearby, no appellation hierarchy with centuries of reputation behind it. The landscape is quieter and less trafficked than the Classico zone further north.
The wines carry the IGT Toscana designation, which is a region-wide category rather than a village or sub-zone appellation. That label choice is also a practical one: it allows Podernuovo to plant and blend Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Petit Verdot alongside Sangiovese without being constrained by rules that would require a single-variety or majority-Sangiovese composition. An estate working in Chianti Classico DOCG would face different blending requirements. Here the grape selection and the label are directly connected.
Soil And Site
The estate is in Palazzone, within San Casciano dei Bagni. The vineyards were abandoned at the time of purchase in 2004 and fully replanted from 2007. Rows are managed with grass cover between the vines, and fava beans are used for natural soil fertilization, both standard organic-farming choices that reduce chemical inputs and support soil biology. Harvest is by hand. The replanted varieties span both Bordeaux internationals and Sangiovese, and their presence in the same vineyard means each wine draws from parcels chosen for that wine's intended composition rather than from a single-variety block.
Story
In 2004, Paolo and Giovanni Bulgari bought the property and found the vineyards entirely abandoned. The abandoned vineyard was cleared. Replanting happened in 2007. The wait between purchase and first bottle was five years, which is not a short horizon for a new estate.
The architectural commission that produced the 2013 cellar confirms the same logic. Alvisi-Kirimoto is a studio with an international portfolio; their involvement here was not incidental. The resulting building became a working environment shaped around the winemaking rather than a conversion of an existing agricultural space. The cellar was created in 2013.
The range as it now stands reflects that layered ambition. Therra is the most accessible in composition and ageing time. Sotirio is the Sangiovese taken further: longer maceration, smaller vessels, a longer total ageing period before release. Argirio is the Cabernet Franc standing alone. Each wine has its own vinification logic rather than sharing a single house method.
Vineyards And Cellar
The replanted vineyard carries five varieties: Sangiovese, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Petit Verdot. Organic farming covers the whole estate; rows are grass-covered and fertilised with fava beans.
Therra, the blend of Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot, spends 15 to 25 days on the skins, ferments in temperature-controlled stainless steel, then ages for ten months in large 3,000-litre oak barrels. The large-format barrel limits the oak contact per volume of wine, so the wood contributes without dominating. Six months in bottle follow before release. Therra has lively tannins, juicy fruit and a long, persistent profile.
Sotirio is handled differently at every stage. It macerates for 18 to 30 days, longer than Therra, and ferments in conical oak vats alongside 500-litre tonneaux, smaller vessels that give more surface contact and a different oxygen exchange during fermentation. After fermentation it matures for 24 months in 1,000-litre barrels and 500-litre tonneaux, then spends 12 more months in bottle. Thirty-six months from harvest to release is a patient programme for a Tuscany red. The longer maceration and smaller vessel mean more extracted tannin and more detail from oak, and the wine needs time to absorb both.
Argirio is made from Cabernet Franc alone, the one variety in the replanted range that stands outside both the Sangiovese tradition and the Cabernet-Merlot blend. Its cellar detail follows the same principle of variety-specific treatment.
Wines
The three wines are separate answers to the same replanted vineyard rather than a hierarchy moving from entry to prestige.
Therra blends Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot. It is the most generous in early life: the Merlot rounds the mid-palate, and the Sangiovese keeps the acidity moving through the finish. Tannins are lively without being demanding. Blueberry and berry fruit open the nose; sweet spice, aromatic herbs, and a thread of toast come through over time. It drinks well with a few years of age and does not require long cellaring.
Sotirio is pure Sangiovese and carries all of that variety's native character: tart red cherry, dried rose, earthy minerality, and the kind of high acidity that keeps the wine alive through a long finish. The 18 to 30-day maceration draws more tannin and colour from the skins than Therra's approach. The conical vats and tonneaux during fermentation, followed by 24 months in barrel, build depth and grip. This is a wine that asks for food and, ideally, some years in the cellar.
Argirio is Cabernet Franc as a single-variety wine: more aromatic, often more herbaceous, with a cooler-toned fruit profile than the Sangiovese wines. It completes a range where each wine is genuinely differentiated rather than positioned by price.
In The Glass
Across the range, the common register is south Tuscan: ripe, saturated fruit with enough acidity to stop the wines from feeling flat, and tannins that come from real skin contact rather than from oak management alone.
Therra opens on blueberry and blackberry jam, with sweet spice and dried herbs in the background. The palate is full-bodied, with tannins that grip early and then soften into the juicy fruit beneath. The toasted and smoky notes appear on the finish, not the front of the nose. Ten months in large oak gives texture without competing with the fruit.
Sotirio is tighter and more savoury. The Sangiovese tannin is drier and more powdery than Therra's, the acidity sharper, the red-fruit register more precise. At full maceration length the wine has grip and depth; at its best, a mineral quality that comes from the grape rather than from the cellar. It opens with time in the glass and develops further with cellaring.
Argirio carries the Cabernet Franc aromatics that distinguish it from the other two: lifted red fruit, a leafy edge, sometimes a graphite note on the finish. The variety reads differently from Sangiovese in every part of the wine.
A Bottle To Understand It
Start with Therra. It is Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot aged for ten months in large oak barrels, and it gives a clear picture of what the estate does: ripe southern Tuscan fruit, real skin contact, oak that supports rather than leads, and a finish long enough to hold interest. The lively tannins and juicy mid-palate make it approachable from release.
Anecdote
Paolo and Giovanni Bulgari bought the Palazzone property in 2004. When they walked the land they found vineyards that had not been worked in years: overgrown, unproductive, beyond pruning back into shape. Rather than nurse them, the brothers cleared them completely. Replanting began in 2007, with five varieties going into ground that had been given time to recover. In 2009, just two years after the new vines went in, the estate made its first harvest. Those early vintages came from very young plants. In 2013, Massimo Alvisi and Junko Kirimoto created the wine cellar for Paolo and Giovanni Bulgari.
Final Word
Podernuovo a Palazzone is an estate built from cleared ground in a part of Tuscany that does not trade on famous names. The IGT Toscana label gives the range freedom to use five varieties and to vinify each wine separately, without fitting into a DOCG category. The three wines, Therra, Sotirio, and Argirio, are each made on their own terms. Therra is the place to begin: accessible, well-made, and honest about where it comes from.
Sources
- https://podernuovoapalazzone.com/en/azienda/
- https://podernuovoapalazzone.com/en/wines/
- https://sommeliersuite.com/en/podernuovo-giovanni-bulgari-winery/
- https://wineanorak.com/2022/10/26/the-wines-of-podernuovo-a-palazzone-polished-gems-from-the-south-of-tuscany/
- https://magazine.greatestate.it/giovanni-bulgari-and-his-love-for-the-land-podernuovo-a-palazzone-0424.html
- https://www.tasters.ch/en/producers/podernuovo-a-palazzone
- https://podernuovoapalazzone.com/en/product/Typical-geographical-indication-IGT-red/slaughter/
- https://podernuovoapalazzone.com/en/product/Typical-geographical-indication-IGT-red/Sotirio/
- https://podernuovoapalazzone.com/prodotto/indicazione-geografica-tipica-igt-rosso/argirio/?lang=en