Extract from Terroir: Wine as Expression of the Vineyard
Castello di Ama is one of the pre-eminent estates in Chianti Classico. Situated in the southern-most district of the appellation, the estate has only been making wine since the late 1970s but has since built a reputation as one of the region’s best.
From the 1950s to the late 1970s the entire hilltop hamlet of Ama was left deserted, only to be rediscovered and restored by four families who saw the potential of the 70-hectare property that became Castello di Ama. Most of the estate (40 hectares) was dedicated to olive groves, but when they found out that much of the property was over galestro rock soils, they identified its potential for fine wine production. The group had ambitious plans and, spurred by their love of Bordeaux, they set out to produce an Italian fine wine of equal measure to the Right Bank wines of Pomerol and Saint-Emilion.
In 1979 they built a winery, investing in state-of-the-art temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks of various sizes and dimensions to allow for the vinification of individual plots. Such investment was unheard of, even by the standards of the more wealthy and established wineries in Bordeaux.