Pācina

Castelnuovo Berardenga (SI) - TUSCANY

Pãcina is a magic place. It’s a ‘living’ farm that hosts a diverse range of plants, flowers and animals. It is located in Castelnuovo Berardenga, along the ancient road connecting Arezzo and Siena, in the Chianti region of the Colli Senesi. Pãcina or ‘Pãchna’ is the name of Etruscan god of wine – who eventually became the Roman god Bacchus.

Giovanna Tiezzi and Stefano Borsa are carrying on a 1000-year old, local tradition of food and wine production. Their property includes vines, olive groves and woodlands. They grow spelt, chickpeas and lentils and many other fruits and vegetables. They have 65 hectares of land in total with around ten hectares dedicated to wine, fifteen hectares to other crops and eight hectares of trees. The rest is intentionally left uncultivated to help improve the biodiversity of their home.

Their vineyards are spread across a plateau of the local ‘tufo senese’ soil (sandy limestone and clay), with fossilised shells popping up here and there. The vines are exposure to the sun from all directions, and there is always a breeze which keeps the vines free of humidity and mould.

Giovanna and Stefano are lucky enough to have a site that doesn’t need anything, allowing them to farm with little or no intervention. According to Giovanna, it’s also the only way they know. They have never used chemicals in their vineyards because the vines have never needed it. The soils have a biodiversity stretching back hundreds of years. They produce wines that are representative of each soil and microclimate on the vineyard.

From the moment they started, their wines have been made without any additives, except for the odd tiny dose of sulphur dioxide at bottling if necessary. Everything is done by hand. Their wines are fermented with natural yeasts in old oak, acacia and concrete containers. They are bottled without clarification and filtering, and they only leave the cellar when they are ready.

Pãcina’s wines are delicate, pretty and floral, but with great structure and strength.