Description

I have always lived on this farm in Nottola, on the outskirts of Montepulciano: I was born there, literally, because on 19 December 1968 there was such a snowfall that it prevented my mother from being taken to the hospital. And this is where I grew up going to help in the vineyard, between tractors and harvests. Later I decided to leave and do something else: I studied design and started designing furniture for a local industry. But the bond with my land was visceral and I felt its strong appeal. And so at the end of the 90s I decided to go back to taking care of my vineyards.

Since the 1960s my father had run the winery as was the custom at the time: making wine for our family and selling the remaining part of the grapes produced on the two and a half hectares of the property. On my return, the vineyard needed to be replanted and it was an opportunity to start a process of modernization of production.

For several years, until 2011, I continued to sell grapes because it took time to make the wine I wanted and to achieve the ideal of quality I had in mind. I am convinced that wine reflects who makes it and for this reason I have waited 10 years to make wine in person.

My soils express elegant and very fragrant wines. To this we add the use of small barrels, produced in Burgundy, without roasting and closed with steam. In this way we guarantee the elegance and maximum enhancement of the varietal characteristics of Sangiovese.

The name of the winery? My surname, Barbi, could not be used, but one day I bought a dictionary of the dialect of Montepulciano and Val d’Orcia – my family is originally from Pienza – and discovered that the term “barbicaia” indicates the group of roots of the vine that emerge from the ground. And it seemed to me that everything came back.

Marco Barbi