Italy · Maremma Grosseto

Val delle Rose /Tenuta della Famiglia Cecchi

Famiglia Cecchi's Maremma coastal estate, the largest producer in the Morellino di Scansano appellation, farming organically on feldspathic quartz sandstone soils since 2021.

The producer

Val delle Rose is the coastal Tuscany estate of Famiglia Cecchi, a wine group with roots going back to 1893. The estate sits within the Morellino di Scansano appellation in the southern Maremma, and at roughly 100 hectares under vine it is the largest single producer in the zone. Sangiovese grown here on free-draining feldspathic quartz sandstone, tempered by sea air off the Grosseto coast, produces wine with more immediate cherry fruit, softer tannin, and a warmth in the mid-palate that sets it clearly apart from the clay-heavy Chianti heartland.

The range runs three Sangiovese-led reds of ascending weight under the Morellino di Scansano name, from the bright and fresh Rosamante at the entry level to the full-bodied, spiced Aurelio at the top, plus Litorale Vermentino, a white built for the same seaside warmth that shapes the reds. Organic certification arrived in 2021, applied across both Val delle Rose and the Umbrian estate Tenuta Alzatura in a single group-wide decision. Rosamante Morellino di Scansano is the bottle to start with: morello cherry, soft tannin, clean acidity, no hard edges.

Known for

Morellino di Scansano Sangiovese in three tiers from bright cherry entry to full-bodied spice, plus Maremma Vermentino.

Notable facts

The story

The 25-Hectare Bet

In 1996 Famiglia Cecchi bought 25 hectares of vineyard land in the Morellino di Scansano appellation. The Maremma coast was not fashionable Tuscan wine country then. The appellation had only existed since 1978, land was cheaper than anything available in Chianti, and the local Sangiovese had not yet found a wide audience beyond the region. The Cecchi family planted and expanded through the 1990s and 2000s, adding parcels steadily as the appellation's reputation grew. By the time organic certification arrived in 2021, the estate had reached roughly 100 hectares and Val delle Rose had become the largest single producer in Morellino di Scansano. The 25-hectare coastal parcel purchased in 1996 now anchors one of southern Tuscany's most productive appellation addresses.

From the atlas

Val delle Rose / Tenuta della Famiglia Cecchi

At A Glance

The Producer

Val delle Rose is the Maremma coastal estate of Famiglia Cecchi, a Tuscan wine group with roots going back to 1893. Famiglia Cecchi began in Chianti, building steadily through the twentieth century into a multi-estate operation spread across Tuscany and Umbria. Val delle Rose is the coastal arm of that portfolio, planted in the Morellino di Scansano appellation in the southern Maremma, and at roughly 100 hectares under vine it is the largest single producer in the appellation.

Morellino di Scansano is the DOC appellation for Sangiovese grown in the coastal hills behind Grosseto, where the Maremma's maritime warmth and sandy soils produce a style of Sangiovese that is rounder, more immediately fruited, and less tannic than the Chianti heartland. Val delle Rose farms that coastal Sangiovese across three red labels of ascending weight, plus a Vermentino white that suits the same seaside warmth.

Place

The Maremma was long considered rough, marshy, and outside Tuscany's fine wine geography. Systematic drainage in the twentieth century opened the coastal strip to serious viticulture, and the Morellino di Scansano DOC, awarded in 1978, formalized the appellation around Sangiovese grown in the Scansano hills between Grosseto and the Argentario coast.

The maritime climate matters directly to the wine. Sea breezes moderate summer heat, harvest arrives earlier than in inland Tuscany, and Sangiovese ripens with softer tannin and more approachable fruit than it does on the heavier clay soils of Chianti Classico. The appellation requires a minimum of 85 percent Sangiovese in the blend.

Soil And Site

The Val delle Rose vineyards sit on feldspathic quartz sandstone with pebbles and siliceous material throughout. Sandy, free-draining soils stress Sangiovese roots moderately, limiting vigour and concentrating fruit, and they drain heat rapidly between seasons, preserving the acidity that keeps the wines from going soft. The siliceous content adds a mineral quality to the aromatic register. Farming decisions at the estate are guided by in-depth soil studies, and organic certification achieved in 2021 removed synthetic inputs from those soils entirely.

Story

Famiglia Cecchi was founded in 1893, when Luigi Cecchi began working with Tuscan wine. The group spent most of the twentieth century based in Chianti, consolidating vineyards and building a negociant and estate operation in the heartland of Tuscan wine. The coastal move came in 1996 when the family acquired 25 hectares in the Morellino di Scansano appellation, at a moment when the zone was still establishing its reputation and coastal Maremma land was relatively affordable.

Over three decades, the estate expanded to roughly 100 hectares. Where the original acquisition was a modest coastal parcel, Val delle Rose grew into the appellation's largest producer. The Cecchi family ran that expansion alongside their Chianti and Umbrian estates, which kept a clear logic: different climates, different soils, different faces of Sangiovese, all under one family portfolio. The organic certification in 2021, applied simultaneously to Val delle Rose and the Umbrian estate Tenuta Alzatura, confirmed the group-wide farming direction rather than a single-estate decision.

Vineyards And Cellar

The estate farms approximately 100 hectares on feldspathic quartz sandstone soils, certified organic since 2021. Organic viticulture removes synthetic herbicides, pesticides, and fertilisers from the vineyard cycle, which on sandy, siliceous soils means the vines draw on a cleaner mineral substrate and the fruit carries less chemical residue through fermentation. Soil studies informed the farming approach before certification.

Cellar practice details are not publicly documented beyond the sensory character of the finished wines. The tasting profiles suggest conventional red winemaking that allows Sangiovese's coastal fruit to read cleanly without heavy extraction or extended oak: the entry-level Rosamante is bright and fresh, the mid-tier Poggio al Leone adds density, and the top-level Aurelio shows spice and velvety tannin development.

Wines

The range divides into three reds under the Morellino di Scansano appellation and one Vermentino white.

Rosamante Morellino di Scansano is the entry label. Bright ruby-red with purple accents, it opens on intense morello cherry with a fresh, fruit-forward palate. Light in body relative to the Chianti heartland, lively in acidity, and built for early drinking without the density that needs years of cellaring.

Poggio al Leone Morellino di Scansano moves up a tier. Very intense ruby red in colour, it shows the ripe Sangiovese fruit character typical of coastal Maremma, with more weight and a full-bodied, balanced frame. Where Rosamante lifts with freshness, Poggio al Leone presses down with density.

Aurelio is the top red. Intense ruby, it opens on ripe red fruit, then moves into black spice, pepper, and chocolate notes. The tannins are smooth and velvety, the body full, the overall impression warm and complete. This is the wine where the coastal terroir and longer maturation work together to produce something more complex than the appellation's entry price suggests.

Litorale Vermentino is the estate white. Straw yellow with light gold accents, it carries intense ripe summer fruit aromas on the nose and an aromatic persistence through the palate. Vermentino is a coastal grape, well suited to the Maremma's seaside warmth, and this version reads as a direct expression of that affinity: aromatic, generous, not sharply acidic.

In The Glass

Sangiovese from the Morellino di Scansano appellation behaves differently from its Chianti counterparts. The same grape on free-draining coastal sand, tempered by sea air, produces wine with more immediate cherry fruit, softer tannin, and a warmth in the mid-palate that reflects the longer, sunnier growing season. Across the three Val delle Rose reds, that coastal signature is consistent: the acidity is present but not sharp, the tannins resolve without demanding cellaring, and the fruit reads ripe rather than austere.

Rosamante sets that tone most clearly: morello cherry on the nose, a clean fruit-forward palate with a pleasant finish, no hard edges. Poggio al Leone adds flesh and depth without changing the underlying warmth. Aurelio introduces complexity at the level of spice and texture, where pepper and chocolate notes sit alongside the red fruit, and the velvety tannins signal a wine built with more selection and more time. The Vermentino sits apart from the reds: summer fruits, aromatic length, the Maremma's coastal generosity in a white frame.

A Bottle To Understand It

Rosamante Morellino di Scansano is the right first bottle. It is pure Maremma Sangiovese in its most direct form: bright ruby-red, morello cherry on the nose, fresh acidity, soft tannin, a palate with fresh acidity and soft tannin. The coastal sandy soils are legible in the wine's lightness and fruit clarity. It is not a complex bottle and does not try to be. It is an honest first expression of what Sangiovese does on the Maremma coast, and a clear illustration of why the Morellino di Scansano appellation exists as a distinct category from Chianti. Buy it for a weeknight table and it will deliver exactly what it promises.

Anecdote

In 1996 Famiglia Cecchi bought 25 hectares of vineyard land in the Morellino di Scansano appellation. The Maremma coast was not fashionable Tuscan wine country then. The appellation had only existed since 1978, the land was cheaper than anything in Chianti, and the local Sangiovese had not yet found a wide audience. The Cecchi family planted and expanded through the 1990s and 2000s, adding parcels as the appellation's reputation grew. By the time organic certification arrived in 2021, the estate had grown to roughly 100 hectares and Val delle Rose had become the largest single producer in Morellino di Scansano. The 25-hectare coastal bet placed in 1996 now anchors one of southern Tuscany's most productive appellation addresses.

Final Word

Val delle Rose makes Morellino di Scansano at scale without losing the coastal character of the appellation. The Sangiovese is fresh, warm, and approachable across all three tiers. Rosamante is the bottle for a first encounter with Maremma Sangiovese; Aurelio is the one to try when that encounter goes well.

Sources

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