Why it matters
The producer
Fattoria di Fèlsina sits at the southern end of Chianti Classico, where the appellation's limestone ridges begin to give way to the marine-sediment clays of the Crete Senesi. Domenico Poggiali bought the estate in 1966 and made early investments in quality and a young team. His son-in-law Giuseppe Mazzocolin joined in the late 1970s to build the commercial operation, and Giovanni Poggiali has led vineyard renewal since 1993.
What distinguishes Fèlsina within Chianti Classico is the decision to plant and keep only Sangiovese in its Chianti vineyards. In the 1980s, when many Tuscan estates were introducing Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot to chase international scores, Fèlsina did not. Its Rancia Riserva and Fontalloro, both launched with the 1983 vintage, have remained Sangiovese bottlings for four decades.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Fèlsina occupies what the estate calls frontier land: the geological boundary where Chianti Classico ends and the Crete Senesi begins, in the direction of Montalcino. Estates farther north in the appellation sit on Galestro and Alberese, the schist and clay mix associated with the zone's more mineral, aromatic style. At Fèlsina, the soils shift to laminated marl, sandstone with silt, clay, and marine sediments rich in minerals. Those marine sediments are a legacy of ancient seabeds and carry a different mineral character from the calcareous soils of the appellation's centre.
On the label, Fèlsina's position at the southeastern edge puts Fontalloro just outside the Chianti Classico boundary. Its Sangiovese parcels carry a Toscana IGT designation not because the farming or cellar work differs from the Chianti Classico bottlings, but because of where the appellation boundary falls relative to those particular parcels. The fruit, the farming, and the approach are continuous across both.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The massal-selection programme, running since 1983, has preserved a range of Sangiovese clonal families from within the estate's own vineyards. Rather than buying certified nursery clones, Fèlsina propagated from its own best-performing vines, maintaining genetic diversity across the parcels. Giovanni Poggiali's replanting work since 1993 has used this material, so younger blocks carry the same vine heritage as the oldest plots.
In the cellar, the underground ageing space connected to the former stables provides stable, cool conditions for cask work. The 1998 introduction of stainless steel addressed fermentation: temperature control allows earlier picking decisions to be managed without losing acidity, and separates the reductive phase of winemaking from the oxidative ageing that follows in wood. Rancia and Fontalloro spend longer in cask than the Chianti Classico, building the integration and depth their parcels support.
Wines to know
The range in view
The Chianti Classico is the entry point: Sangiovese from the estate's appellation parcels, with cherry fruit, firm tannin, and the dry mineral mid-palate the limestone and marl soils produce. It is built to accompany food, with enough acidity to cut through rich dishes and enough tannin to resolve against protein.
Rancia is a Chianti Classico Riserva from a single named vineyard. Longer ageing concentrates what the single site produces: dried cherry, tobacco, an acid line that is firmer than the estate Chianti Classico, and tannin that is more structured and slower to resolve. It is a wine built for a decade of development, not for early drinking.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Rancia Riserva is the right first bottle. It is a single-vineyard Chianti Classico Riserva made from the Sangiovese massal-selection material Fèlsina has been developing since 1983, aged longer than the estate Chianti Classico, and sourced from one named site rather than a blend of parcels. In the glass it is dry, firm, and mineral: dried cherry and tobacco on the nose, a bright acid line running through the mid-palate, structured tannin on the finish, and the length to develop for ten years or more. No oak flavour, no residual sweetness.