PODERE LA VILLA - San Casciano Val di Pesa (FI)
Via Pisignano 34
I -
50026 San Casciano Val di Pesa,
(FI),
Italy
Estate Owned by: Ilaria Tachis | Winemaker: Alessandro Cellai | Extension: 7,0 ha | Estate Founded: 2007 | Winery Production Total: 25,000 Btls
In 2003, Giacomo Tachis decided to replant an old vineyard, 1,25 hectares (3 hectares) in area, in from of Podere La Villa, an agriturismo that his daughter and only child Ilaria was managing for the family. It was down the road from the Antinori San Casciano wine production facility on Via Pisignano. The Tachis family lived elsewhere in the town. Tachis’s longtime friend and collaborator and fellow Sancascianese Valerio Barbieri recommended that he choose Sangiovese and Merlot for the vineyard . The vines were planted. The initial idea was that the family would sell the grapes to add to its income. It could only be assumed, however, that one day Tachis would have made his first wine. All his life, he had made wine for other people.
Within several years, he became ill and less able to continue his life as before. The responsibility to develop the vineyard increasingly rested with Ilaria. Family friends came to her aid. Alessandro Cellai, the technical director of the Castellare winery in Castellina counseled her on the exposure and soil of her vineyards. Because there is yet no vilification facility at the villa, the Di Napoli family at Castello dei Rampolla in Panzano has provided vinification, maturation, and bottling facilities. Markus von der Planitz, the estate’s fixed enologist, has wet-nursed and babysat the wines. Elisabetta Barbieri, a consulting agronomist specializing in enology, also keeps a watchful eye on them. The Tachis family winery, Podere La Villa, could not be in more caring hands. Meanwhile, Ilaria’s husband became increasingly involved in the farm.
The first harvest of 2006, was good but very small.The family sold the grapes. The next year, there were two harvests. The same day that the vineyards were harvested, Ilaria gave birth to her first son, Riccardo. He is the first grandson of Giacomo and his wife Maria. Given the importance of the day, September 7, 2007, the family decided to vilify this harvest. Though its 2007 wine was not registered as Chianti Classico, its 2008 was. The name of the wine is Pargolo, old Italian for “young child”.
In 2010, the family issued a 100 percent Merlot wine, named Paggio, from paggetto or “page boy”. Nicolò, Ilaria’s second son, born in 2009, had a burst of blond hair that gave him the look. With Maria and Giacomo passing away within one year, these wines celebrate the theme of new life and a new road.
Over the years, the Tachis family has purchased more vineyards. It now owns about seven hectares (seventeen acres). Recently, the original vineyard was expanded to 2.5 hectares (6 acres). The elevation is about 210 meters (689 feet), and the soil is filled with round stones and fossil seashells.
Ilaria Tachis has supported the recent creation of the Viticoltori del Chianti Classico Sancascianese (now named Sancasciano Classico), an association of San Casciano producers. The town lacks an image, and it needs one, particularly if the system of using comune names is adopted. That there are three large producers, Antinori, Castello di Gabbiano, and Le Corti, at one extreme and many small ones at the other may complicate the association. (CREDITS: BILL NESTO, FRANCES DI SAVINO, "CHIANTI CLASSICO").
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