Why it matters
The producer
In 1882, Angiolo Piccini bought seven hectares of vineyard at Poggibonsi, a town in the hills of central Tuscany between Siena and Florence. He started selling wine. A century and a half later, the same family controls more than 200 hectares across five separately managed properties in Tuscany, Sicily and Basilicata, and has not sold a share of the company to outside investors. Mario Piccini, the fourth generation, runs the group as president and CEO alongside oenologists Alessio Ciomei and Pasquale Presutto.
The scale is unusual for a family firm. Turnover rose from 63.3 million euros in 2020 to 154.3 million euros in 2023, a pace that pushed the company into a new 18,000-square-metre headquarters and into a 35 per cent stake in Vinicola Cide, a Prosecco bottler in Treviso. The wines, though, are made estate by estate, each property tied to a specific appellation and grape. The organically farmed philosophy runs across all five properties.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Poggibonsi sits in the Val d'Elsa, just outside the Chianti Classico zone. The founding address matters less today than the network of properties the family has assembled since. Valiano, in Castelnuovo Berardenga at the southern end of Chianti Classico, is where the family makes its premium Sangiovese-based reds under the Chianti Classico DOCG rules. Castelnuovo Berardenga is the warmest and most southerly of the Chianti Classico communes, giving wines with darker fruit and fuller body than those from cooler northern villages like Panzano or Greve.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
All five Piccini properties are organically farmed, which across more than 200 hectares of Italian landscape means adapting organic protocols to soils and climates that range from Chianti Classico galestro to Etna lava. Organic farming at this scale is a commitment to vineyard health over chemical correction: it tends to produce lower yields, more concentrated fruit, and grapes that carry the character of their soil rather than being levelled by synthetic inputs.
Beyond the broad organic claim, the cellar practices at each estate are specific to their appellation. Brunello di Montalcino requires extended ageing, at least two years in oak and further time in bottle before release, and this shapes Villa al Cortile's output as wines made to develop over many years. Chianti Classico at Valiano is made from Sangiovese with permitted blending varieties, and the Riserva designation requires a minimum of two years' ageing before release, including at least three months in bottle. The Bolgheri wines at Tenuta Moraia follow the Maremma tradition of oak-matured, Cabernet-dominant blends.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range divides into two tiers. The estate appellation wines, made at each property for their specific denominations, sit at the top: Chianti Classico from Valiano, Brunello di Montalcino from Villa al Cortile, Bolgheri wines from Tenuta Moraia, Aglianico del Vulture from Regio Cantina, and Etna DOC wines from Torre Mora. These are single-origin bottles with appellation rules defining the grape, the ageing and the style.
The Collezione Oro Chianti Riserva opens with blackberry and ripe cherry, a thread of vanilla from oak ageing, and a dry spice note that comes from Sangiovese's natural tannin. In the mouth, the acidity is firm and fresh, which is characteristic of Sangiovese from Tuscany: the grape's high natural acid keeps the fruit lifted even when the body is full and the tannin is present. The finish is dry, with the grip and length of a wine that has spent time in oak without being dominated by it.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with the 2022 Collezione Oro Chianti Riserva DOCG. It is Sangiovese-led under the rules of Chianti Riserva, aged for a minimum of two years before release, and shaped by the DOCG's requirements for its appellation, grape and style. The wine shows dark cherry and blackberry against a dry, firm acidity that is the signature of good Tuscan Sangiovese. The tannin is present without being coarse. The oak gives vanilla and spice but does not mask the fruit. It is an accessible price, widely distributed, and directly connected to the family's Tuscan roots in a way the southern-estate bottles cannot be.