Jackson Family: from the USA to Chianti Classico, in the sign of typicality, with Tenuta di Arceno

From the USA to Chianti Classico, with the desire to enhance the territory, identifying as many as 63 micro-cru on 90 hectares of vineyards, investing in one of the most historic Italian denominations, looking to a present made of sustainability, and to the future. It is the curious history that links the Italian wine country to one of the most important names in American wine, that of Jackson Family, a company that owns several estates in California and Oregon, but also in France, Australia and South Africa, and that, since the mid-1990s, has invested in the Arceno Estate, in Castelnuovo Berardenga, in the heart of the Black Rooster. An estate of 1,000 hectares in total, 90 of which are vineyards, with soils ranging from 300 to 500 meters above sea level, with over 10 different microclimates identified, and a wide variety of soils including clay, sandstone, basalt and shale, enhanced in bottles by an international team, which sees the French vigneron Pierre Seillan (of Vérité Winery in Sonoma County and Château Lassègue in Saint-Émilion, Bordeaux), the oenologist Lawrence Cronin (American of Italian origin), who has been directing production since 2002, and the head of the vineyards Michele Pezzicoli, working side by side.
A story of investment and love for one of the most beautiful territories in the world, but also for the whole Italy of wine, as told to WineNews by Julia Jackson, second generation of the family and for years committed to environmental sustainability, with the Grounded foundation, for which she has received numerous international awards: “when my parents started thinking about expanding internationally, Italy was at the top of the list. My mother, Barbara Banke, always felt a deep bond with the country - her mother’s family was Sicilian - and when she visited Tuscany and Chianti Classico for the first time, she fell in love with the region. The opportunity to invest and produce great wines in Castelnuovo Berardenga - explains, to WineNews, Julia Jackson - has become much more than a commercial opportunity. It was a personal passion that ran through the whole family. In addition, in those years, at the end of the 1990s, the world of wine was crisscrossed by a general sense of enthusiasm and the desire on the part of producers to give priority to the quality of wine. When my parents discovered the historic Tenuta di Arceno - with San Gusmè in the background - they saw the perfect convergence of terroir, history and potential. As second-generation owners, we share a personal bond with this beautiful Tuscan estate and feel a deep responsibility to carry my parents' vision into the next generation. A vision that, amidst centuries-old woods, parish churches and castles on the estate, in the vineyard, as mentioned above, result in more than 60 “micro-cru”, each one characterized by varieties, clones, rootstocks and good viticulture practices adapted to the soil. Which give life, to date, to 6 labels, between Chianti Classico and Supertuscan, aimed at expressing the maximum typicality of the territory.