Wine-making wants special skills and a long experience.
To produce a great wine a man needs to live a good number of harvests, to get the expertise and knowledge to overcome any seasons difficulty.
You cannot bottle history, that’s sure, but it is granted that in old canteens you can age the best wines and it is also sure that a family with a long oenological tradition, with a competent staff, makes the difference.
Carlo, Lucia and Roberto Paladin pursue devotedly an authentic research of the highest quality, of the ambiental protection and development; they are guided by a feeling of love and admiration for Tuscany, which has literally captivated them because of its richness in history, art, and ancient flavors.
They are winemakers for birth, passion and tradition as well.
The Fattoria di Castelvecchi has an illustrious historical past: in some documents of the Middle Ages it is mentioned as “Castello et Curtis”.
The Place and the Story
The ancient winery is excavated under the castle, among its foundation, and it is dated, as the whole core structure, between the X and the XI century.
The importance of the Fattoria di Castelvecchi also lies in its strategic location, being at the center of several ancient roads,in the very art of Tuscany, between Florence and Siena.
The Castelvecchi function was chiefly defensive, for this reason it had to be fortified with strong, tough walls.
Castelvecchi was ruled by the lords of Monterinaldi for most of the XI century until, proclaimed autonomous community, it suffered, at the end of the thirteenth century, the fierce attacks of the nobles of the surroundings, attracted by the incredible richness of the Parish of Santa Maria Novella. Many parties fought widely and for a long time to get the famous fertile vineyards here cultivated.
Towards the middle of the seventeenth century, the name of the place, which was then “Castela de la Pieve”, became, after the name of the owners, first “Castel de ‘Vecchi,” then “Castelvecchi”. “De Vecchi” was the name of an ancient noble family from Montalcino who took the castle and the land around.
The property passed through the centuries from de Vecchi to de Vecchi ending to the heirs of the husband of the last descendant, a Marquis Gutierrez de la Solana, Grandee of Spain, at the beginning of 1900.
