Deciding the right time to harvest is both an art and a science. We check the grapes from the time of veraison (the time of the beginning of the ripening process), and as the harvest approaches, we tour the vineyard to check the grapes. We control various aspects, but mainly sugars, acidity and polyphenols. As […]
Yahya El Harchaoui manages our vineyards (and we couldn’t do without!). Yahya landed in Tuscany from Morocco 16 years ago (another incredible story in itself) and has been working in Montecalvi almost all this time. To say he knows the place well would be an understatement. How did you get to Greve in Chianti? What […]
Like any vegetable found a few weeks out of the year, agretti (also known as monk’s beard) is a rarity. As luck would have it, they are in season when the weather is mild enough to eat outside, additional food for the soul. Agretti with their herbaceous flavor are light and easy to prepare. For […]
The year 2020 was an excellent year for Tuscan olives. The olive crop can vary markedly from year to year due to pruning cycles, the weather, and then undoubtedly there are the many hazards that can arise when growing organically but this year, the quality is 5-star and the trees have yielded abundant fruit. Montecalvi […]
The 2020 season was very favorable overall. At the end of March there was a cold spell with hailstorms that partially reduced our yield but without creating much damage to the vines or the buds, the future clusters. The summer was long, dry, hot, but not excessively so, creating a healthy environment around the vines […]
There was a silver lining to this bizarre year: during the various phases of the lockdown, where chaos and confusion reigned, nature in Tuscany continued to thrive. We are thrilled and excited about the harvest in Montecalvi. The winter got off to a great start, providing the ground with the necessary water supplies to cope […]
Montecalvi is an organic farm. We are all quite aware of the principles of organic farming, and in our own small way, we try to eliminate chemicals such as fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides from our diet and our environment. For many of us, it is important that our wine is also organic. But not […]
We have a large garden that provides us with fresh vegetables all year round. One of the virtues of Tuscany is its food-local, fresh, simple and flavorful, and we are happy to share with you some recipes we prepare with vegetables from our garden. BLACK CABBAGE This beautiful cabbage is now in season and is […]
We have planted a large vegetable garden, which provides us with fresh vegetables all year round. One of the best aspects of Tuscany, is its food–local, fresh, simple and full of flavor, and we are happy to share the recipes we cook for Tuscan lunches prepared with ingredients from our garden. ZUCCHINIS This wonderful summer […]
Q. How did a man from the Wirral area of northern England end up in Chianti? A. I came to Chianti more than 20 years ago to learn about the other side of the wine world. I was a wine seller in the United Kingdom, but I wanted to try grape harvesting. I loved Italian […]
