Pagliarese carries one of Chianti Classico's oldest names, tracing its roots to a prominent Sienese family that retreated to the hills of Berardenga in the late 13th century. The estate became a benchmark producer in the 1970s and early 1980s, guided in part by the legendary Giulio Gambelli, before going quiet for a decade. In 1995, the Poggiali family acquired the property and began the patient work of recovering its genetic heritage, replanting the vineyards using massal selections from original vines dating to 1966-1974. Giovanni Poggiali released the first vintage of the modern era in 2015, restoring the name to the appellation it helped define.
The estate sits on the Colle di Montecucco near San Gusmè in Castelnuovo Berardenga, the southernmost commune of Chianti Classico, at elevations between 320 and 390 metres. Twenty-five hectares of organically farmed vineyards occupy two distinct slopes with meaningfully different soils, each matched to a different wine in the range. In the cellar, the approach favors elegance over extraction: moderate macerations, ageing in large Slavonian oak ovals, and the same concrete vats that shaped the great Pagliarese wines of decades past. Sangiovese leads, with small additions of Canaiolo and the increasingly rare Mammolo, which contributes a quiet note of violet and spice. The result is Chianti Classico of genuine finesse and a clear sense of place.
