Poggio al Sole Casasilia Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG

Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Casasilia DOCG from Poggio al Sole

The top red wine from Poggio al Sole

The Chianti Classico Gran Selezione from Poggio al Sole with the melodious name Casasilia is a wine made from 100 percent Sangiovese grapes. Undoubtedly the top wine of the winery! Not at least prooved by the countless awards and excellent reviews with which this red wine is awarded vintage after vintage. No wonder, since this is a really strong, ruby red wine with robust tannins and aromas of red fruits. And it is made with great love by Johannes Davaz, owner, agronomist and oenologist of the winery. Only about 9,000 of these bottles come to the market each year - a very manageable quantity for a wine that already tastes so good and can be stored easily and loosely for ten years or more. The Sangiovese grapes are vinified in stainless steel tanks after being harvested at the beginning of October. Then the Casasilia rests and matures for 18 months in new and once used barriques and afterwards stays further months in the bottle. In other words, it takes about three years from the harvest to the first uncorking. By the way the name Casasilia is a reminiscence of the time when Poggio al Sole belonged to the abbey Badia a Passignano and was called Casasilia. First in 1969 a private individual bought the property from the abbey. And since then the winery has been known as Poggio al Sole - which means "hill in the sun".

True delights from the high and sunny hill

This "Poggio" - the sun-drenched hill around which the Poggio al Sole winery is situated - represents also the logo on the labels of all wines, on the label of the olive oil and at the whole estate. The owner of the estate Johannes Davaz, who comes from a traditional Swiss winemaking family produces seven other wines in addition to the Gran Selezione. The Chianti Classico is of course at first place in the range. 90 percent Sangiovese, 5 percent Canaiolo and 5 percent Merlot as well as the skill and tact of Johannes Davaz make this wine more than just a classical. One could describe the Trittico as the house wine - whereby this wonderfully light IGT from 70 percent Sangiovese, 15 percent Merlot and 15 percent Cabernet Sauvignon is substantially more. By the way the "tri" in the Trittico is an indication that the wine consists of three grape varieties. Trafiore is a red wine made entirely from Canaiolo grapes, which have the same fragrance as the flowers - the fiore - that grow between the vines. The simple name Syrah Toscana Rosso IGT stands for a real treat. With that wine Johannes Davaz conjures a true explosion of aromas from one hundred percent Syrah grapes. And last but not least the red wine assortment is rounded off by the Seraselva: 60/40 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. And as if it wasn't enough, the winemaker delights friends of light wine with a white wine called Chiara, which means light or clear, and with Rosato Primavera, in which the motto is "solo Sangiovese". And of course they also produce their own olive oil at Poggio al Sole. After all around 1,500 silver-grey shimmering olive trees grow here.

A winery with a long history and great tradition

Poggio al Sole has been owned by the Swiss couple Kathrin and Johannes Davaz since 1990. Johannes tells the story that they bought the vineyard following a "spontaneous intuition and a good feeling". And Kathrin summarizes the story "In the afternoon we did a tour and in the same evening we signed the sales contracts". Since then, the two have continuously expanded and renewed the property which has a long history and tradition. Until 1969 the estate was owned by the nearby Abbey of Badia a Passignano, whose archives say that wine and olives were cultivated here already in the 12th century. At that time the winery was still called Casasilia. And it got its today's name from its new worldly owners. Today the estate extends between the towns of Tavarnelle Val di Pesa and Greve in Chianti over a total area of 70 hectares. On more than 24 hectares of vineyards with southeast to southwest exposure grow and thrive different grape varieties on gently undulating hills. The two Swiss produced their first wine in Poggio al Sole in 1991.

Making wine always means thinking about the future

Kathrin and Johannes are firmly convinced that the production of wine is a continuous thinking about the future. And no wonder, who else would make products that will take five or ten years to be successful? And with this thinking about the future, the Davaz family is also very concerned about the sustainable use of the nature and its resources. Thus all Poggio al Sole wines have been certified organic since the 2016 vintage, and the in-house solar system supplies the electricity for the winery. Over the years, Johannes has increased the vines from 10 to 24 hectares - this made it necessary in 2004 to expand the cellar, which was originally built in 1972. Today the wine cellar at Poggio al Sole is top-modern and state of the art. There is a fermentation hall with steel tanks and a separate cellar section where the barriques are stored. Every year at Poggio al Sole are bottled about 100,000 bottles of wine. Despite that the winery has remained a real family business: Johannes is responsible for the work in the cellar and in the vineyard. Kathrin makes sure that the wines of Poggio al Sole find their way all over the world. Valentino, the oldest of the four sons of the wine-growing couple, now lives at Poggio al Sole and takes care of the winery and agriturismo, where you can spend your personal Tuscany dream holiday in the middle of the winery.