Terroir & Vineyards

Sette Ponti’s vineyards occupy a total of 150 acres and lie at an altitude of 200 to 300 metres (600 to 900 feet). The varied soils are a mixture of clay, sand, limestone and the traditional stony galestro of Chianti.

The Vineyard of the Empire

The oldest vines on the estate were planted in 1935 by HRH the Count of Turin, Vittorio Emmanuele di Savoia. This five-acre plot, called the Vigna dell’ Impero (“Vineyard of the Empire”), is a hand-terraced vineyard planted primarily to Sangiovese vines interspersed with traditional Canaiolo, Colorino, Trebbiano and Malvasia. An adjacent 87-acre section of this vineyard, also principally Sangiovese vines, was planted in the early 1960s by Alberto Moretti.

The Sorbaccio and Salverece Vineyards

The estate’s newer plantings, which total 68 acres, date from 1997, 1999 and 2000, and are situated principally in two separate plots. The Sorbaccio vineyard, planted in 1999, lies on rock, sand and clay soils with a minor galestro content, and covers slightly over 13 acres. Vines are primarily select clones of Sangiovese with minor Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot plantings.

The most recent plot is the Salverece vineyard, planted in May of 2000 on sand, limestone and clay soils. This 30-acre vineyard is also primarily Sangiovese vines with some Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Overall, new plantings are apportioned 35 acres to Sangiovese, 18 acres to Merlot, 13 acres to Cabernet Sauvignon and 5 acres to experimental varieties.

Poggio al Lupo

The 115-acre estate named Poggio al Lupo in Maremma was purchased in 1999. South of the coastal Tuscan region of Bolgheri, the Maremma region is similarly subject to the moderating influence of Mediterranean breezes, with a warm, consistent, exceptionally luminous climate. Rainfall is sufficient, and in the more humid months sea winds serve both to areate the clusters and dissipate early fall storms that sometimes plague vineyards farther inland at harvest.

The property’s geology is a patchwork typical of Tuscan coastal areas, with pockets of soils rich in clay and others rich in gravel and fine stones set in various protected mesoclimates. The principal Poggio al Lupo vineyard is a southerly-exposed hillside vineyard parcel rising 330 feet above sea level, planted to 5.5 acres each of Alicante and Petit Verdot and the balance in Cabernet Sauvignon. The first release from this estate was the 2001 bottling called Poggio al Lupo.