Avignonesi

History

The estate takes its name from the Avignonesi family, a 16th-century noble dynasty with roots in Montepulciano. The modern winery was founded in 1974, when the Avignonesi brothers established it as a major producer of ‘Vino Nobile di Montepulciano’, at that time one of the most respected red wine appellations in Tuscany. They also established the estate’s ‘Vin Santo’ and ‘Occhio di Pernice’ wines as benchmark sweet wines, prized by collectors worldwide.

In 2009, Belgian entrepreneur Virginie Savéris acquired the estate and immediately began transitioning it to biodynamic farming, becoming one of the first major Tuscan wineries to choose this path. In 2016, she obtained organic certification, and in 2019, biodynamic certification under the Biodyvin standard. In 2022, the estate became a certified B Corporation, joining the ranks of fewer than a hundred wineries worldwide to hold this status. In 2024, Virginie handed the estate over to her children, Basil and Elin Aloi, who now manage it, continuing to pursue the same long-term vision.

Vineyards

The estate covers a total area of over 300 hectares, situated between the Montepulciano and Cortona appellations, of which around 175 hectares are planted with vines, divided into nine separate plots. The main estate, Le Capezzine, is situated near the village of Valiano di Montepulciano, where the guest accommodation and historic cellars are located.

Since 2013, all winemaking and ageing processes have taken place at the second estate, Lodola, situated a few kilometres away. The recently designed experimental vineyard, La Stella, serves as a testing ground for regenerative viticulture: it features cover crops, fruit trees, hedgerows and local Sangiovese varieties.

Terroir

The vineyards are situated on clay-limestone soils at an altitude of around 300 metres above sea level, which produces Sangiovese with good natural acidity and tannic structure. Its location between the Valdichiana and Chiana valleys ensures that this area enjoys warm days and cool nights, typical of the inland hills of Tuscany, whilst its proximity to Lake Trasimeno on the border with Umbria slightly tempers the climate.

Grapes

Sangiovese, known locally as Prunolo Gentile, is the estate’s main variety, covering around 100 hectares and used in all the main red wines. The estate also cultivates Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, as well as the white varieties Grechetto, Malvasia and Trebbiano, which are used to produce sweet wines.

Winemaking

All vineyards are cultivated using biodynamic farming methods, without the use of synthetic pesticides or fertilisers; the harvest from each plot is gathered and processed separately. In the cellar, a minimalist approach is adopted: fermentation using indigenous yeasts and ageing in various vessels, including amphorae, stainless steel tanks, concrete ‘eggs’, barriques and large oak casks.

The flagship ‘Vin Santo’ wines are produced using traditional methods: the grapes are dried for several months on reed mats, then slowly fermented using ‘madre’, a culture of local yeasts passed down from generation to generation, after which the wine is aged for ten years in small 50-litre oak barrels known as ‘caratelli’, during which time more than half of the liquid evaporates.

Wines

The core of the range is ‘Vino Nobile di Montepulciano’, including the single-vineyard wine ‘Podgetto di Sopra’, which received the ‘Tre Bicchieri’ award from Gambero Rosso for the 2021 vintage. Alongside this, ‘Desiderio’ is a pure Merlot wine with the Toscana IGT designation of origin, whilst ‘50&50’ is a joint project with Capannelle, in which Sangiovese and Merlot have been blended in equal proportions since the release of the first vintage in 1988. The Occhio di Pernice Vin Santo, made from 100 per cent Prunolo Gentile and aged for ten years in caratelli, remains one of Italy’s rarest and most sought-after sweet wines.