Italy · Maremma Grosseto

Tenuta Casteani

A family estate in the southern Maremma hills above former mineral mines, farming about 15 hectares organically and making wines from Vermentino, Sangiovese, Merlot and Syrah.

The producer

Tenuta Casteani sits in the hills of the southern Tuscan Maremma, five kilometres from the former mining town of Ribolla and 18 kilometres from Massa Marittima. Mario Pelosi owns the estate and works the vineyards and cellar alongside his son Marco, with consultant oenologist Graziana Grassini shaping the winemaking. About 15 hectares of vine spread across hillside terrain that once lay directly above working mineral mines, surrounded by woods and olive groves, farmed organically.

Vermentino is the estate's defining grape, shown in at least three distinct treatments. Serìn is the most fully documented: soft-pressed, fermented in stainless steel at 16 degrees Celsius, aged six months between tank and bottle, with no oak and no residual sweetness. The saline, herbal nose and high acidity come from the inland elevation rather than the coastal warmth where most Vermentino grows. The Spirito Libero line takes a different route: pure Vermentino and pure Sangiovese made without added sulphites, the red aged in stainless steel for approximately a year. The Maremmano Vermentino Superiore and the Merlot-based Terra di Casteani Rosso Riserva round out the range.

Known for

Maremma Vermentino in multiple expressions, from a conventionally vinified cool-fermented cuvée to a sulphite-free bottling under the Spirito Libero label.

Notable facts

The story

Free Spirit

Mario Pelosi had a name for the wines he made without added sulphites: Spirito Libero, which translates as Free Spirit. In a Maremma where most estates were built around Cabernet, Merlot, and the infrastructure of conventional cellar management, he chose to make a white wine from pure Vermentino and a red from pure Sangiovese, both bottled without the preservative net of sulphite additions. The Sangiovese went into stainless steel for a year rather than oak, because the wine needed inert ageing without the modifications that wood and sulphites normally provide together. The name went on the label not as a marketing position but as a precise description of what was and was not in the bottle. Both wines still carry it today.

From the atlas

Tenuta Casteani

At A Glance

The Producer

Tenuta Casteani sits in the hills of the southern Tuscan Maremma, five kilometres from the former mining town of Ribolla and 18 kilometres from Massa Marittima. Most buyers map the Maremma to its coastline, Bolgheri, and the big international red blends that made the region famous in the 1990s. Casteani belongs to a different part of the same territory: inland hill country, quieter, close to the old extraction towns, and organised around Vermentino rather than Cabernet or Sangiovese in the conventional Super Tuscan sense.

Mario Pelosi owns the estate and works the vineyards and cellar alongside his son Marco. Consultant oenologist Graziana Grassini shapes the winemaking alongside them. About 15 hectares of vine spread across the hills, surrounded by woods and olive groves on terrain that once lay directly above working mineral mines.

Place

The address is Podere Fabbri, Località Casteani, in the comune of Gavorrano, province of Grosseto. Gavorrano is mining country. The hills around the estate sit above ancient abandoned mineral workings, and the land carries the elevation and drainage of that former industrial landscape rather than the flat, irrigated character of lower Maremma.

Vermentino is normally a coastal grape, at home in Sardinia and Liguria where sea air, sandy soils, and warm afternoons push the variety toward tropical fruit and bitter almond. At Casteani's inland elevation, the same grape delivers a cooler-toned profile: saline lift, herbal cut, lime and white peach rather than mango and melon. The place explains why the wines feel taut where coastal Vermentino is plush.

The estate falls within the broader Maremma Toscana DOC, which covers a wide swathe of Grosseto province and accommodates both the famous coastal estates and smaller inland producers like Casteani.

Soil And Site

No parcel-level soil or elevation data is verified from available sources. What is confirmed is the hillside setting above former mineral-mine terrain in the Gavorrano hills, surrounded by unfarmed woodland and olive groves. The topographic position gives natural drainage and exposure that distinguish the site from the lower Maremma plains, and the herbal, saline character of the estate's Vermentino points to a cooler microclimate than the coast.

Story

The estate carries a father-and-son operation rather than a multigenerational dynasty. Mario Pelosi farms and makes the wine; Marco works beside him. At some point, a deliberate decision was made to convert to organic farming across the estate's 15 hectares. The certification timeline is not precisely documented, but the organic commitment shapes both the farming calendar and the range philosophy.

The clearest expression of that philosophy is the Spirito Libero line, whose name translates as Free Spirit. Mario Pelosi chose to make a white wine from pure Vermentino and a red from pure Sangiovese, both without added sulphites. The Spirito Libero white and red wines are pure Vermentino and pure Sangiovese, made without added sulphites. The wines required not just a farming choice but a cellar one: without sulphites as a preservative tool, the Sangiovese goes into stainless steel for approximately a year rather than into oak.

Graziana Grassini, a consultant oenologist with a reputation across Tuscany, works with the estate. Her involvement in a small-scale organic producer in under-mapped hill country is itself a statement about what the place can produce.

Vineyards And Cellar

The roughly 15 hectares are planted mainly to Vermentino and Sangiovese, with Merlot and Syrah also in the ground. Farming is organic. Individual parcel details, vine ages, and yields are not documented in available sources.

For the Serìn, the Vermentino grapes are softly pressed and fermented in stainless steel at 16 degrees Celsius, then aged for six months between steel tank and bottle. The cool fermentation preserves the grape's aromatic range: the lime and thyme that define the nose do not survive higher temperatures. No oak touches the wine.

The Spirito Libero Rosso Sangiovese spends approximately one year in stainless steel before release. Ageing in inert vessels without sulphite additions keeps the wine's fruit forward and its tannin unmodified by wood. The Sangiovese shows crunchy red fruit, berries and herbs, followed by mineral and iodine notes.

Cellar details for the Maremmano Vermentino Superiore and Terra di Casteani Rosso Riserva are not verified from available sources.

Wines

The range runs two parallel tracks that reveal a clear philosophy about what grapes should and should not carry.

Serìn is the estate's most documented white. Pure Vermentino, softly pressed, fermented cold, six months in steel and bottle. It opens with saline lift and white peach on the nose, moving through lime, broom, linden, and the herbal tones of thyme and rosemary. An independent tasting of the 2022 vintage recorded green apple, citrus, papaya and resin on a spicy, herbal nose, with high acidity and a medium-bodied, green-toned finish. No oak, no residual sugar: this is Vermentino kept lean and aromatic.

Maremmano Vermentino Superiore is named the flagship white on the estate's own site. No verified cellar details are available beyond the Vermentino varietal base and the Superiore designation within the Maremma Toscana DOC framework.

Spirito Libero Bianco is pure Vermentino made without added sulphites. The sulphite-free method places it at the minimal-intervention end of the range, distinct from the conventionally vinified Serìn.

Spirito Libero Rosso is pure Sangiovese, no added sulphites, aged in stainless steel for approximately one year. It is a direct, unwooded expression of the grape.

Terra di Casteani Rosso Riserva is Merlot-based and named the flagship red. Cellar details and élevage are not verified from available sources.

Across the range, Vermentino is the pedagogical thread: Serìn shows it conventionally vinified and aromatic; the Spirito Libero Bianco shows it without sulphites. Both are contrasting lessons in what the grape does in these hills.

In The Glass

The Serìn opens with a bright, pale straw colour carrying golden tints. The nose is saline first, then herbal: thyme, rosemary, broom and linden come through in sequence, and below them white peach and lime. An independent tasting added papaya and green apple, with resin and a spicy edge. In the mouth, the acidity is high and defines the wine's shape: the fruit runs through the mid-palate and the finish closes cleanly without weight. Medium body, no oak character, no residual sweetness. It is an aromatic wine that finishes taut.

The Spirito Libero Sangiovese delivers direct red fruit without the oak or tannin modification that most Tuscan Sangiovese carries. The stainless steel ageing keeps the grape's natural colour and fruit primary; the absence of added sulphites means the wine is made to be consumed without the buffer that conventional winemaking provides.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the 2022 Serìn. It is pure Vermentino, softly pressed and cold-fermented, aged six months in steel and bottle before release. The wine is saline and herbal on the nose, with white peach, lime and thyme coming through cleanly. In the mouth it is lean and bright, with high acidity that carries the fruit to a clean, green-toned finish. No oak, no residual sweetness. It is the most fully documented bottle in the range.

Anecdote

Mario Pelosi had a name for the wines he made without added sulphites: Spirito Libero, which translates as Free Spirit. The decision was practical and philosophical at once. In a Maremma where most estates were built around Cabernet, Merlot, and the infrastructure of conventional cellar management, Pelosi chose to make a white wine from pure Vermentino and a red from pure Sangiovese, both bottled without the preservative net of added sulphites. The Sangiovese went into stainless steel for a year rather than oak, because the wine needed inert ageing without the modifications that wood and sulphites normally provide. The name went on the label not as a marketing position but as a precise description of what was and was not in the bottle. Both wines still carry it today.

Final Word

Tenuta Casteani is a small organic estate in the hills above former mining country in the southern Maremma, building a range around Vermentino in multiple treatments and a sulphite-free Sangiovese that takes a different path from Tuscany's conventional red. The Serìn is the clearest bottle: taut, saline, herbal, and worth finding.

Sources

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