The first winery estate property, named “Il Castagno”, after the area where it is located, lies on a hillslope of wholly Oligocene derivation, with loose, sandy loam bearing abundant pebble admixture (galestro and clay slate, as well as limestone-feldspar-quartz marls and fine-grained sandstones), perfect conditions for Syrah. The vineyards of Syrah, planted in 2001, extend for two and a half hectares (ca. 6,5 acres). At “Il Castagno” we find also the fermentation and ageing cellars. The second property, “Poggio del Sole”, named after the area where it is located , rests on a rolling riverbed terrace from the Pleistocene, with medium-textured, fine loam soils with high proportions of clayey sand and silt. New vineyards of Syrah were planted between 2000 and 2003 on the 8 hectars of the estate. The rootstocks and clones were carefully selected in France (Rhone Valley), the area of origin of Syrah grape, according to the only purpose of the winery, that is low yield and very high quality of fruit, without forgetting the characteristics of Cortona’s terroir. Because of the distinctive local weather and soils, the vines were planted at a density of 5,000 vines per hectare (2,024/a.). Crop yield is kept to about 800 grams per vine (=40 q/ha, or 16 q/a.) by practicing cluster thinning and re-sizing during the summer. The use of chemical-based treatments is severely limited, and thus vineyard practices are largely organic. With the sole exception of canopy hedging in the spring, all operations are carried out manually. Also the harvest is done manually, with the grapes picked into small boxes to preserve them and then very carefully destemmed.