Tuesday was a big day with three visits scheduled and quite a lot of ground to cover.
Heading south to Grosseto from Siena and then up round towards the coast, our first stop was at the wonderful Bulichella winery in the lesser known Suvereto DOCG. The story around this estate all centres around Hideyuki Miyakawa who came from Japan on his motorbike to explore Europe and other parts of the world. He met his Italian wife at a motorshow in Turin and the rest, as they say, is history! Hideyuki co founded ItalDesign – an automotive design company which worked with a number of top car brands. In 1983, the family moved to Suvereto with four other families to set up a farm/social project and the winery was formed in 1999 when the Miyakawa family took over the whole estate. We were hosted by Shizuko, Maria-Giulia and Stefano, all family members who tag teamed us around the winery and the vineyards. It is an incredible story that combines Japanese and Italian cultures in a stunning and beautiful way.
We continued our journey north towards the Bolgheri DOC – famous now due to the success of Sassicaia – one of Italy’s most renowned wines and unusual because it is a Bordeaux blend. Over the past twenty years there has been an influx of producers looking to capitalise on the opportunity. However, this wasn’t the original plan of the Moncelli family who bought a plot of land in 2006 to serve as a holiday home from their base in Emilia-Romagna. In fact they built a winery first before the villa and are producing organically certified wines. Matteo hosted us with his usual aplomb and we took a quick tour in the vineyards and cellar before enjoying a lovely lunch sitting amongst the concrete tanks. It was just a bit too cold and windy outside.
Our final visit was the Le Vigne di Silvia – a small, family estate of just six hectares, situated 1200m from Villanoviana. The family was part of a large group that moved from Le Marche region in the 1950’s as there was an opportunity to buy their own land and grow vegetables – a move away from the share cropping system where you had to share the profits with the landowner you rented the land from. We met Stefania and her sister Silvia as well as their parents – this is a real family concern. Their main business was Swiss chard, other vegetables and basil before eventually moving into wine in 2006. Stefania was the principal host and she enthused everyone with her exuberance and passion for the estate – there was always a huge smile on her face as she regaled us with family stories. We sat outside with views of the vineyard and the new winery being built while we tucked into more food (eggs supplied by their own chickens) and four delicious wines.
A big day out but very worthwhile.