L’Erta di Radda means “the steep slopes of Radda.” The vines sit between 320 and 365 metres on galestro and alberese soils, the classic high-altitude terroir of this part of Chianti. Some of the vines were planted in 1965. Diego has farmed them organically from the beginning.
One Man, One Winery
Diego runs the estate almost entirely alone. Elisa is cellar master during vinification and harvest. Everything is picked by hand — late September, mid-October — and until 2008, every grape went to larger producers. In 2009, Diego started bottling his own wine. That was the real beginning.
The Wines
His Chianti Classico DOCG — 90% Sangiovese, 10% Canaiolo — is high-altitude Radda in a glass: red cherry, plum, tobacco, wildflower, with bright acidity and silky tannins. The Riserva is 100% Sangiovese from a single vineyard, aged two years in oak. And then there is the Due e Due — an IGT that revives the old Governo all’uso Toscano method, adding dried white grapes to extend fermentation. It is a 19th-century Chianti tradition that most wineries forgot. Diego brought it back.
His Chianti Classico has twice won Gambero Rosso’s Tre Bicchieri — for the 2019 and 2021 vintages. For a winery this small, run by essentially one person, that’s incredible. But ask Diego what excites him most and the answer is less poetic: “I love it when the cellar empties before I start bottling new wine!”
