Why it matters
The producer
Tenuta Casteani sits in the hills of the southern Tuscan Maremma, five kilometres from the former mining town of Ribolla and 18 kilometres from Massa Marittima. Most buyers map the Maremma to its coastline, Bolgheri, and the big international red blends that made the region famous in the 1990s. Casteani belongs to a different part of the same territory: inland hill country, quieter, close to the old extraction towns, and organised around Vermentino rather than Cabernet or Sangiovese in the conventional Super Tuscan sense.
Mario Pelosi owns the estate and works the vineyards and cellar alongside his son Marco. Consultant oenologist Graziana Grassini shapes the winemaking alongside them. About 15 hectares of vine spread across the hills, surrounded by woods and olive groves on terrain that once lay directly above working mineral mines.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
The address is Podere Fabbri, Località Casteani, in the comune of Gavorrano, province of Grosseto. Gavorrano is mining country. The hills around the estate sit above ancient abandoned mineral workings, and the land carries the elevation and drainage of that former industrial landscape rather than the flat, irrigated character of lower Maremma.
Vermentino is normally a coastal grape, at home in Sardinia and Liguria where sea air, sandy soils, and warm afternoons push the variety toward tropical fruit and bitter almond. At Casteani's inland elevation, the same grape delivers a cooler-toned profile: saline lift, herbal cut, lime and white peach rather than mango and melon. The place explains why the wines feel taut where coastal Vermentino is plush.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The roughly 15 hectares are planted mainly to Vermentino and Sangiovese, with Merlot and Syrah also in the ground. Farming is organic.
For the Serìn, the Vermentino grapes are softly pressed and fermented in stainless steel at 16 degrees Celsius, then aged for six months between steel tank and bottle. The cool fermentation preserves the grape's aromatic range: the lime and thyme that define the nose do not survive higher temperatures. No oak touches the wine.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range runs two parallel tracks that reveal a clear philosophy about what grapes should and should not carry.
Serìn is the estate's most documented white. Pure Vermentino, softly pressed, fermented cold, six months in steel and bottle. It opens with saline lift and white peach on the nose, moving through lime, broom, linden, and the herbal tones of thyme and rosemary. An independent tasting of the 2022 vintage recorded green apple, citrus, papaya and resin on a spicy, herbal nose, with high acidity and a medium-bodied, green-toned finish. No oak, no residual sugar: this is Vermentino kept lean and aromatic.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with the 2022 Serìn. It is pure Vermentino, softly pressed and cold-fermented, aged six months in steel and bottle before release. The wine is saline and herbal on the nose, with white peach, lime and thyme coming through cleanly. In the mouth it is lean and bright, with high acidity that carries the fruit to a clean, green-toned finish. No oak, no residual sweetness. It is the most fully documented bottle in the range.