Massa Vecchia

In the coastal inland, at the foot of the first Metalliferous hills of the upper Maremma in the Tuscany region, stands the historic village of Massa Marittima, which is home to a small artisanal winery called Massa Vecchia. This project was born in 1985 from the brilliant idea of Fabrizio Niccolaini and the historic family vineyard, "La Querciola", planted by his father Alberto in 1972. In the following years the estate expanded as a result of the great demand for its products, purchasing the two "Beruzzo" vineyards between 1992 and 1996, which were the final pieces of the project. The union between Fabrizio and Patrizia officially launched the beginning of this adventure, which is a story of love, passion and a lot of determination. A self-taught approach and an almost visceral love for the land were the only ingredients to build a solid dream and produce wines of extraordinary expressive beauty. Today in the vineyards there is Francesca, the daughter of Fabrizio and Patrizia, who has already learned the techniques and inherited the passion from her parents at a young age, starting a new venture that would follow the same principles handed down from her family. This is how Massa Vecchia became Francesca's company, assisted by her husband Stefano and partners Daniel, Thomas, Rocco and Ines. The approach is always the same, not to interfere with natural processes and preserve the integrity of the magical and enchanting Tuscan territory. In this way, genuine and flavoursome wines are born, with a rustic nature, which are lively and sincere extracts of the Maremma region.

The Massa Vecchia winery cultivates six hectares that are divided between vineyards, olive groves and cereals. Different varieties of the ancient Tuscan tradition are grown, including primarily Sangiovese, followed by Vermentino, Malvasia di Candia, Trebbiano, Alicante, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. The Querciola vineyard, which is the oldest, grows on soils of galestro and calcareous marl, while the two Beruzzo vineyards grow on soils of sedimentary origin. In the vineyard a healthy and respectful philosophy towards the plant and the territory is followed, with an approach that goes beyond organic and biodynamic methods, using only powdered sulphur and the Bordeaux mixture. In the cellar, fermentation usually takes place spontaneously in open truncated cone-shaped vats, with prolonged maceration to extract all the polyphenolic content of the grapes. Ageing in old and used wood rounds off the taste and adds very light spiced and toasted tones.

Among the numerous wines on offer are orange wines, which macerate on their skins from the start of vinification until the end of the process, yet still maintain an incomparable drinkability, and red wines with great expressive power. These are genuine and lively bottles, without being too extreme or disruptive, and with a great taste that is characterised by a unique and precious territorial imprint.