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Barone Ricasoli is the oldest winery in Italy, established in 1141 when the castle of Brolio, in the province of Siena, became the property of the Ricasolis.
The documents recording the first exports of Brolio wines to Amsterdam and England date back to the late 1600s; since the early 1900s, they have been exported all over the world.

The father of this most famous wine was Baron Bettino Ricasoli, who lived between 1809 and 1880: he was not only a highly-respected politician but also an attentive researcher and a wine entrepreneur striving to produce high-quality products in Chianti and compete with French wines.

Bettino’s hardcore commitment gave birth to viticulture in Chianti, also thanks to the introduction of economic and farming innovations; it boosted the development of roads and railways, but above all, it pushed farmers and sharecroppers into profitable cooperation aimed at true quality and excellence.

The company area develops around the castle, including 593 acres of vineyards and 64 acres of olive trees (Olea europaea L. ); it is the largest in the Classic Chianti territory: total extension of 2.965 acres between the municipalities of Gaiole and Castelnuovo Berardenga, featuring valleys, hills and oak forests (Quercus spp.) with chestnut trees (Castanea sativa Mill.) as well.
The true natural beauty and highly-respected biodiversity are probably the most striking features of this central area of Chianti.

Starting in the 90s, the company began a process of renewal, which is now almost complete; the vineyards used to be old, sick, quite scarce and randomly distributed. The Ricasolis renewed and improved them to obtain long-lasting crops suitable for high-quality grapes. The improvement works took place adopting modern techniques, as well as genetically selected and healthy resources.

The new crops were designed with a high density of vineyards, as the number of plants varies from 5.500 to 6.600 per hectare; red vines were arranged with a spurred cordon at some 20 inches from the ground, while the white ones were fitted with the guyot system that allows making the most of basal buds.

As far as grape varieties are concerned, numberless types have been studied and cultivated in Brolio for centuries – for instance, several of the current ones classified as “non-native” such as “Merlot”, “Chardonnay”, and “Cabernet Sauvignon”, as well “Sangiovese” which has become part of Ricasoli wine DNA over time.

This richness of varieties has also been used for a clone selection project for some years, in order to preserve the most interesting “Sangiovese di Brolio” biotypes – they would be used to create more recent vineyards.

The vineyards can be found on a hilly landscape, at altitudes from 590 to 1.600 – most of them are exposed to the South or South-East. The main geological formations on which they grow are known as “Macigno del Chianti”, “Montemorello”, and “Pliocene”.

The first one is located at 1.246 ft above sea level and it features deep layers of sandstones of different nature, as well as superficial parts of calcareous marl and blackish clay.

“Montemorello”, on the other hand, is famous for the limestone formations of marlstone and is located at a height between 984 and 1.312 ft.

The “Pliocene” formation features alluvial soils, rich in gravels and sands, especially near the Arbia Stream.

The climate of this area is a continental one, while the heaviest rainfall is usually recorded in spring and autumn; winter months are quite mild, with very scarce snowfalls, while the summers are always hot and dry.

Quoting Francesco Ricasoli, Bettino’s great-grandson:

”This reality is among the few realities of Chianti Classico capable of producing wines with very different personalities within a single territory. The merit is of its many features that allow us to decline in very different ways the characteristics of a particular vine and its predisposition to quality. It’s an ancient concept: the Latins used to call it “genius loci”, today we talk about “terroir”.