Why it matters
The producer
Isole e Olena sits on the western edge of Chianti Classico, halfway between Florence and Siena, in the UGA of San Donato in Poggio. The estate takes its name from two medieval villages that were brought under a single ownership in the 1950s; lawyer Francesco De Marchi founded it in 1956. The Isole hamlet now houses the winery, a tasting room and a terrace that looks out over the Elsa Valley.
The wines that made this estate's reputation were shaped almost entirely by one person. Paolo De Marchi arrived in 1976, aged around 25, to manage property that had been planted in a way that made good wine difficult. He replanted two-thirds of the vines with low-yielding clones, doubled planting density, restored abandoned terraces and spent years mapping the estate's galestro and marly-schist soils through massal selection. His first vintage was 1978. His first Cepparello followed two years later. He ran the estate for 46 years.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
The western slopes of Chianti Classico sit above the Elsa Valley at an altitude that does real work on the wines. At 350 to 450 metres, the growing season runs cooler and longer than on the zone's lower ground, and the western orientation pulls in maritime breezes from the coast. The combination keeps acidity high and ripening gradual, which is how Sangiovese from this corner of Chianti Classico ends up with more grip on the finish and less of the soft, plum-led warmth that comes from flatter, lower sites.
The administrative address is Barberino Tavarnelle, in the province of Florence. The UGA designation is San Donato in Poggio, one of eleven Unità Geografiche Aggiuntive that Chianti Classico introduced in 2014 to allow producers to label wines by sub-zone. Isole e Olena's bottles carry the estate name rather than the UGA name, but the altitude and aspect are legible in the glass.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The 56 hectares of vineyards are farmed with treatments applied only when vine growth and disease-development data indicate a genuine need. The terraces, restored under Paolo De Marchi and maintained since, keep mechanisation to a minimum on the steeper ground and preserve the shallow galestro layer where it matters most.
In the cellar, the two main reds follow clearly different paths. Chianti Classico is blended from 90% Sangiovese and 10% Canaiolo and aged for 12 months in large oak casks. Large-format ageing softens the oak contribution; the wood is there to stabilise and allow slow oxygen contact rather than to add flavour. Cepparello is 100% Sangiovese, aged 18 months across multiple French-oak formats, then held for a further 12 months in bottle before release. The smaller barrels and longer total ageing time draw out more of the grape's tannin and allow the oak to integrate over three years from harvest to release.
Wines to know
The range in view
Chianti Classico DOCG is the estate's appellation wine: 90% Sangiovese and 10% Canaiolo, drawn from across the estate's 56 hectares and unified by 12 months in large oak casks. Bright and dried cherry sit alongside violet and liquorice on the nose; the palate is supple and refreshing, with light tannins and a crunchy finish. It is the wine that reflects the full estate rather than any single parcel, and the Canaiolo component softens the Sangiovese's natural austerity without blurring it.
Cepparello Toscana IGT is pure Sangiovese, selected from old-vine parcels, aged 18 months in French oak and then a full year in bottle. The longer ageing and the smaller oak format pull out more tannin and allow it to knit over time; the wine releases later and needs more time in a glass or cellar to open. The IGT label places it outside the Chianti Classico DOCG hierarchy, but the farming, the grape selection and the cellar time place it above the estate's Chianti Classico in every other respect.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with the Chianti Classico DOCG. It is the wine that carries the estate's full 56-hectare footprint in a single bottle, and the 12 months in large oak casks bring the Sangiovese forward without burying it. Bright cherry, violet and a crunchy finish on a supple, acid-driven frame: this is what Sangiovese on galestro at altitude tastes like, without the complexity of small-barrel ageing or the price of Cepparello. Buy it young, open it with food, and it will make the site's character legible. Then go back and try Cepparello to understand what cellar time and old-vine selection add to the same ground.