When Dievole “was worth” two capons, three loaves and six coins, in a parchment from the year 1090

In a parchment of 1090, in a document drawn up by the notary Bellandus, we read that the abbot of the Benedictine Monastery of Saint Eugenio leases property located in the places of Dievole, such as houses, lands, vineyards, woods and rivers, in exchange for two capons, three loaves and six Lucca coins per year. It is the ancient document discovered by the historian of the Middle Ages Roberta Mucciarelli of the University of Siena in the State Archives of Siena which is not only a new testimony on the production of wine, in Tuscany, but the first trace of the existence of a company: Dievole, already considered among the oldest realities of the Chianti Classico, which has now found confirmation of its millenary link with the territory.
Not all companies can boast a thousand years of history. Italy is among those countries in the world that are an exception and can document the history of millenary realities of Italian agriculture, which can be counted on the fingers of one hand but which still exist, and in particular in the historical territories of Italian wine. Having to go back to the Middle Ages to tell its origins, one can only immerse oneself in the “perfect” one represented by the Tuscan countryside represented in the masterpiece of the masters of Italian art, starting with Chianti Classico, one of the most beautiful wine territories in the world, halfway between Siena, the medieval city – as well as the Palio – par excellence, and Florence, the “cradle” of the Reinaissance. It is here that the existence of Dievole, has been documented for a thousand years, today one of the most famous brands of Italian wine that is part of the empire of the Abfv-Alejandro Bulgheroni Family Vineyards Italia, the “polyptych” of companies in the most important wine territories of the Grand Duchy, 330 hectares of vineyards, from Chianti Classico to Bolgheri, passing through Montalcino and Brunello, put together by the Argentine entrepreneur Alejandro Bulgheroni, primarily a lover of Tuscany, its beauties, its wines and all its products such as oil, perharps also thanks to its Italian origins, and among the richest men in the world according to Forbes as an oil and alternative energy magnate.
A passion that is reflected in the “vision” of the company and translates into cultural projects in the territories and for the territories in which the companies are located, of study, enhancement and maintenance also of traditions, carried out by the same international professionals of high level calls to produce wines. Like Stefano Capurso, Executive President Abfv, and the flying winemaker par excellence Alberto Antonini, oenologist in many wineries around the world, who represent the “trait d’union” between an ambitious project also from a business point of view and an idea of viticulture that rediscovers the knowledge of the past and of the territories to overcome future challenges, starting with the research project of the specificities of the crus of the Dievole Estate. “What we do is make wine. And to produce opportunities for wine culture, love for a product that is the authentic and unreproducible expression of the here and now, an ideal combination of history, customs, passions, nature, work, profession, taste, art, craft - explains Capurso - there are some elements that characterize today’s Dievole: treasuring what has been, the fragmentation that allows the maximum expression of typicality, regenerative agriculture that starts from respect for the soil, the desire to make wine culture in home but also around the world, telling not only an excellence of our region but also a real way of living”.
And to think that a thousand years ago it was two capons, three loaves and six Lucca coins that made the difference for Dievole. It may not have been the highest revaluation of an agricultural property of all time, but we who usually record them by analyzing the events of the most important Italian wine and agriculture territories, we like to think so, in front of the beauty of tasting a wine that tells a story of almost a thousand years, enclosed in the bottle by the Chianti Classico Riserva Novecento, the flagship wine of the Estate that celebrates 30 harvests, celebrated just last night (on Piazza del Campo, in Palazzo Sansedoni owned by Monte dei Paschi di Siena, a place full of culture, art and beauty) in one of the world capitals of the Middle Ages, Siena, where the ancient document was discovered in the State Archives of Siena.