Tenuta Casenuove

Located at Panzano in Chianti, in Tuscany, an hour’s drive from Florence, Tenuta Casenuove covers an area of 105 hectares, spread overa succession of hills and valleys. This little-known part of Tuscany is an area of steep, wild terrain, beloved of cycle tourists and ramblers. Its numerous streams, its forests and its vines form a protected bucolic environment.

Like all the Tuscan domaines, the primary vocation of the Tenuta Casenuove was polyculture, where the local farms created a selfcontained agricultural community. With their olives, cereals, fruit and vegetables – and of course their vines – the locals could enjoy all the riches the region could provide. But as the popularity of the local wines in the 80s led to an upsurge in winegrowing, the domains began to specialise in Chianti wines. The only other surviving crop was olives – otherwise, it wouldn’t really be Italy any more! Long owned by the Gandolfini family, Tenuta Casenuove was acquired in 2014 by Philippe Austruy, who had already taken over the Commanderie de Peyrassol (2001), the Château Malescasse, a fine cru bourgeois in the Haut-Médoc, and the Quinta da Côrte. On first discovering the domaine, his reaction was exactly the same as for his other properties: love at first sight and a desire to restore these sadly neglected gems to their former glory and turn them into outstanding domaines, both in terms of their architecture and their wines.

To achieve this, he enlisted the help of some top specialists. The consultant Stéphane Derenoncourt was given responsibility for supervising the vines and preparing the domaine blends. Alessandro Fonseca joined the domaine at the very start of the adventure and oversees the day-to-day administrative and technical needs of the domaine, applying his own Tuscan perspective to the job at hand. A young and talented winemaker, Cosimo Casini, Mattia, Maria Sole and Matteo in the cellar and Cecilia for the business development, complete the team.