Why it matters
The producer
Fattoria Poggerino sits on a small hill called Poggerino in Radda in Chianti, a village in the northern part of the Chianti Classico zone in Tuscany. Piero Lanza makes the wine and manages the vineyards; his sister Benedetta runs the agriturismo in the old stone houses on the property. The two siblings came back to the farm in the 1980s to take over from their parents, and since then have run every stage themselves: vine to cellar to marketing, no outside fruit, no third party.
The property covers 43 hectares in total. About 11 of those are planted to vine, almost entirely Sangiovese, with roughly one hectare of Merlot. The rest of the hill holds stone farmhouses, olive groves, a vegetable garden and a historic church. The name comes directly from the Tuscan dialect word for a small hill.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Radda in Chianti sits at higher elevation than much of the Chianti Classico zone, and Poggerino's vineyards push that altitude further: between 400 and 500 metres above sea level, facing south to southwest. The exposure gives maximum sun hours; the altitude keeps the nights cool and slows ripening enough to preserve acidity and aromatic freshness in the Sangiovese. Radda wines tend to be leaner and more aromatic than those from lower, warmer Panzano or Castelnuovo Berardenga, and the hill position at Poggerino amplifies that character.
Chianti Classico DOCG is the governing appellation. All Poggerino bottles carry that designation, placing them within the historic central Chianti zone between Florence and Siena. Within that zone, Radda is a commune with its own thermal profile and soil character, distinct enough to read on the palate.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The 11 hectares of vineyard at Poggerino sit between 400 and 500 metres on south-southwest-facing slopes. Sangiovese covers approximately 10 of those hectares. The long fallow periods between vineyard generations mean that at any given time only the mature blocks are in production, and the vine age across the estate reflects decades of careful rotation rather than continuous cropping.
The estate Chianti Classico undergoes approximately 35 days of vinification and maceration in concrete, with pumpovers and manual punchdowns throughout. Concrete maintains a stable temperature without imparting oak character, which allows the fruit and soil to come through without interference. The extended maceration extracts colour, tannin and flavour across the full cycle rather than cutting the process short. Piero Lanza aims for a balance between ageworthy tannin depth and a texture that drinks well young: concentration without hardness.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range at Poggerino has two confirmed bottlings, both built on Sangiovese from estate fruit.
The Chianti Classico is the entry-level bottling and the volume wine. It is 100% Sangiovese, vinified and macerated for approximately 35 days in concrete. The long skin contact gives the wine firm tannin and good colour, while the concrete élevage keeps the fruit direct and the palate dry. At this altitude in Radda, Sangiovese tends toward red cherry, dried herbs and firm acidity; the concrete process preserves those primary characters without adding spice or smoke from oak.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with the Chianti Classico. It is 100% Sangiovese, 35 days in concrete, sourced from estate vines in Radda at altitude. The wine is dry, firm and direct: sour cherry and dried herbs, bright acidity from the galestro soils and cool nights, and a tannin weight that is genuine without being austere. It opens young and improves with a few years in the bottle. No oak, no softening agents, no blending grapes. It is the clearest single statement of what the hill at Poggerino produces.