A charming story is told in the Florentine Histories, written in 1838 by Giovanni Cavalcanti, in which the wine of the vineyards of Nozzole occupies a central role. Castruccio Castracani, born in 1281, was a youth of great virtue but deprived of life's material riches. He thus decided to devote himself to service in the military. On his voyage through the countryside to join the troops, he arrived at Nozzole, where he encountered a poor peasant innkeeper.

As the day was very hot, Castruccio had become quite thirsty, and was about to take water from the inn's well when the innkeeper, taking the cup from his hand, said, "To me you seem a worthy youth, for whom drinking water would be an unworthy action; and shame would be on me were I to let you drink it, possessing such wine as I have here." Castruccio replied, "I have no money with which to pay for wine, so let me quench my thirst with this water." But the innkeeper insisted, "A half measure of wine and a piece of bread will fulfill your needs, and yet to give them to you will not harm me." So when Castruccio had eaten and drunk, he offered his javelin in promise of payment, but the innkeeper would not take it. "Were I to take from you the very thing with which you must earn your life," he replied, "I could never hope to be repaid by you, and you would be cut off from all hope of prosperity."

Such was the man's kindness that Castruccio took his book and made note of the name of the innkeeper, the place and the valley, and departed.

Many years later, Castruccio had become Lord of the city of Lucca, and, engaged in war against the neighboring province, was took many prisoners in his victory in the battle of Altopascio. Castruccio ordered all prisoners to be brought before him, and asked them all their names and from whence they came; among them was the innkeeper. On asking his name, Castruccio recognized the man who had long ago shown him such kindness, and declared that the fifty prisoners from the Valley of Greve would be freed in the charge of the innkeeper in repayment for a jug of wine from the vineyard of Nozzole and a piece of bread.

In more recent history, the Nozzole estate was owned by Letizia Rimediotti-Mattioli, who with her husband, a Florentine cavalry officer in World War II, turned their interests from animal breeding and grain cultivation of to vineyards and wine. The estate is located in an impressively rugged mountainous area of great melancholy beauty and covers roughly 1,000 acres, of which approximately a third are planted in vines and olive groves.

The Rimediottis produced wine which for several years was commercialized by the Folonari family, who subsequently purchased the estate in 1971. Situated north of the village of Greve in Chianti at Passo dei Pecorai, the Nozzole estate is now one of the principal holdings of Tenute di Ambrogio and Giovanni Folonari. For further background on the estates of Ambrogio and Giovanni Folonari.

The Nozzole estate produces a Chianti Classico Riserva and a single-vineyard wine from the superb "La Forra" parcel. Cabernet Sauvignon, cultivated principally in another parcel of the estate planted in 1981 called "Il Pareto," yields a pure Cabernet wine first produced in the 1987 vintage. The principal white vineyards of the Nozzole estate, the "Le Bruniche" and "Casa Vecchia" vineyards, once planted in Trebbiano Toscano and Malvasia, were replanted to Chardonnay in the early 1980s. These vineyards now produce Nozzole Le Bruniche, a distinctive, pure varietal Chardonnay.