Ranchelle is a small winery of four hectares located in the Maremma, an area along the south-western coastline of Tuscany. They have been making wine here since the time of the Etruscans and the region has traditionally produced a wide variety of native grapes. Ciliegolo, Alicante and Ansonica are still produced, but other local varieties such Procanico, Nocchianello, Riminese and Verdello have almost completely disappeared. Many of these old vines have been replaced with more common Italian or international varieties.

Ranchelle was established with the goal of conserving the region’s oenological heritage. It was founded by Christoph Fischer, a German expatriate who had been working in Florence as a digital archivist. In 2014 he took over a 60-year old vineyard that was one of the few still producing traditional varieties. Ranchelle was developed with the help of Enrico Bachechi, now a distributor or natural wines in Vienna, and Marco Giordano, who runs Podere Erica in the Chianti region.

In 2015 two hectares of the vineyard were planted with indigenous varieties, half white and half red, with another hectare planted a year later. Rootstocks were created using a Selection Massale from the vines of friends and neighbours such as Le Coste (Procanico), Dettori (Alicante) and Antonio Camillo (Ciliegiolo). As per tradition, most of the new vines were planted bush vine style. Today Ranchelle’s  prodcues a range of white and reds wines using combinations of Aleatico, Alicante, Ansonica, Buonamico, Ciliegiolo, Clairette, Mammolo, Nocchianello, Riminese, Procanica and Verdello varieties. 

All blocks on the vineyard are located at an altitude of 350m with a south-eastern exposure. The vineyard’s proximity to the sea and to cooling Maestrale and Grecale winds helps keep temperatures moderate all year round. The soil is a balance of schist, clay and sand, with sedimentary rock fragments.

The vineyard follows the principles of biodynamic farming with the use of green-manure and only small amounts of copper sulphate and sulfur (less than half of the amount permitted in organic agriculture). At harvest, hand-picked grapes are de-stemmed directly over fermentation tubs to avoid the use of a pump. Once fermented – which can take up to four weeks – the must and grape skins are transferred by hand to an old manual wine press. The juice is mainly stored in regenerated oak barrels, although steel vats and fibreglass containers are also used. All fermentation is done using wild yeast and no oenological additives are used at any stage. The wine is cellared in an old super alimentari (corner grocery store) in the nearby village of Poggio Murella.

Ranchelle’s wines are a sincere, honest expressions of the place from where they come. Full of energy and character, they are the kind wines you want to drink every day.