Why it matters
The producer
Castello di Bossi sits in Castelnuovo Berardenga, the southernmost commune in Chianti Classico, where the landscape opens toward Siena and the warmth is noticeably different from the cooler hills of Gaiole or Panzano to the north. The estate covers 500 hectares, with 120 planted to vines at around 350 metres, and it anchors Bacci Wines, a Tuscan group that also holds land in Montalcino and along the Maremma coast near Morellino di Scansano.
Marco Bacci bought it in 1984. He was born in Florence in 1959 and had spent his working life in fashion before the estate changed his direction entirely. The first Corbaia, a Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon blend, came in 1985, one year after acquisition, which says something about the pace at which Bacci moved. His son Jacopo joined the company in 2004, starting on the production side before taking on sales across the United States and Asian markets. The family still owns and runs the estate.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Castelnuovo Berardenga earns its reputation as the warmest part of Chianti Classico. Positioned at the zone's southern edge, the vineyards here ripen earlier than those in Radda or Gaiole and tend to produce fruit with more weight and generosity than the leaner, more mineral wines of the cooler northern communes. That warmth shows in the wines: Sangiovese at Bossi produces ripe cherry and dark fruit rather than the taut red-berry character more common further north.
The appellation itself, Chianti Classico DOCG, runs from just south of Florence down to the hills above Siena. Within it, Castelnuovo Berardenga is the final commune before the classification boundary ends, and the character of the wines reflects that position. The vineyards at Bossi face southeast to west, catching morning light and long afternoon sun, with soils that shift across the estate: tuff, yellow clay, silty sand, and broken stone, each section contributing differently to the texture and weight of the fruit.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The estate has been fully certified organic, which for 120 hectares of mixed-exposure vineyard in central Tuscany means no synthetic herbicides, pesticides, or fertilisers. Organic viticulture in a warm commune like Castelnuovo Berardenga places greater demands on vine management: canopy work matters more when the risk of disease is higher and yields must be controlled without chemical intervention.
The four hectares of solar panels that power the estate are maintained by a flock of local sheep rather than mechanical mowing. The sheep keep the grass cropped beneath and between the panels without fuel, without compaction, and without noise. It is an arrangement that works on practical grounds: the sheep graze freely, the panels stay clear, and the estate does not need a tractor for the task.
Wines to know
The range in view
Sangiovese runs through all three tiers of the Chianti Classico range. The entry-level Chianti Classico DOCG is a dry, medium-bodied, pure-Sangiovese wine aged in oak, with red cherry and dried herb character and the firm acidity that Sangiovese carries at this elevation. It is the clearest expression of the Castelnuovo Berardenga address without the additional ageing time of the upper tiers.
The Riserva sits above it, requiring longer barrel and bottle time before release, and the fruit concentration is correspondingly deeper.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with the Gran Selezione. It is Sangiovese from the estate's best selection of the vintage, aged for more than 30 months before release. Ripe cherry and blackberry on the nose, with mocha and blood orange developing as it opens. In the mouth, the tannins are fine-grained and the mid-palate broad, with firm acidity keeping the weight in check. The finish is long, with licorice and dried cherry. It shows the warm-south character of the commune without losing the Sangiovese grip that defines Chianti Classico at its better addresses.