The Winery

It is quite the extraordinary vista as you drive thru the hills surrounding the historic “town of towers” of San Gimignano in central Tuscany. In fact, from the crest of one of Palagetto’s fields you get the sense that you can reach out and touch the peaks of the towers.

The Niccolai family has deep roots in San Gimignano, particularly Luano Niccolai, founder of Tenute Niccolai, the original core of the Palagetto estate. Ever since he planted the first few hectares of vineyards at Santa Chiara in 1978, near the location of today’s winery, the estate has grown and expanded to include more than 60 hectares of land, primarily planted with vineyards and olive groves. Agriculture was his passion, and he was devoted to his land spending endless periods studying and researching innovation and sustainability.

Following the teachings of their grand-father, the family decided to convert all farming to organic practices culminating in 2018 when they were officially BIO-certified. But the family didn’t stop there as they began to invest in equipment within the winery with the goal of promoting less intervention in the winemaking process. Cold stabilization using ganimede tanks is one such example. Their use of integrated agriculture aims to create a perfect balance between productivity and sustainability, integrating crop protection with practices that promote biodiversity with long-term land preservation.

It's not just the favourable climate which makes the Palagetto site so exceptional but it’s also that their particular geographical location is the base of an ancient seabed. It is made up of Pliocene marine deposits with little fossilized stone and compact clay below a bed of yellow sand. All these elements contribute to a more savoury profile to both the white and reds wines.

Despite the size of their estate, there is an extreme amount of physical labour in the vineyards with several green harvests to thin out yields to produce fruit with ripeness and character. All fruit is hand harvested as well as triaged upon arriving at the winery. Wine making is low intervention, and the family uses a wide variety and sizes of barrels from barrique to 45hl.