Buondonno
In 1988 Gabriele Buondonno, from Naples with his new degree in Agriculture in his pocket, bought the estate Casavecchia alla Piazza between Siena and Florence. Gabriele wanted to do agriculture, to get his hands dirty in the earth and in the grapes, to put into practice what he had only studied in textbooks until then. From the very beginning it has been oriented towards organic farming because " still seems to us the best way to operate on tiptoe in the natural environment, trying to alter the balance as little as possible".
In the Buondonno's vineyards, needless to say it is the Sangiovese that reigns supreme, grown at about 450 meters above sea level, all around the winery and in those in Sicelle on clayey soils, very calcareous and rich in stones that guarantee excellent drainage. In the cellar, on the other hand, only native yeasts, fermentation in large concrete tanks to increase the contact surface with the skins and aging, for bottled wines, in big oak casks.
The people who animate the Casavecchia alla Piazza farm, now known by all as Buondonno, are Gabriele and his wife Valeria, but also their daughter Marta has chosen to work in contact with the earth and produces excellent honeys and goat cheeses in Chianti.