The territory of the municipality of San Casciano Val di Pesa resides almost completely in the wine production area of Chianti Classico DOCG, of which constitutes the nothest part.
The closeness to Florence and the presence of numerous ancient Florence families that first invested in agricolture favored since the past the development of a complex agricultural system, with a long rural tradition highly focused on wine and olive oil production.
The rural tradition left in heritage to the local agriculture a high differentiation in the cultures and a unique landscape profile.
It’s the beauty of the landscape, characterized by gentle hills filled with vineyards, olive gardens (San Casciano is the territory with the highest number of olive groves in the municipality of Florence),historical villas and small towns that make it unique, giving this territory the historical denomination of “Florence’s first land” or “Florence’s garden“.
The Etruscan territory, historically a center for market and joining pointbetween Siena and Florence and Volterra and Fiesole, San Casciano is a territory full of art and histoy. In 1513 Niccolò Macchiavelli wrote here the treaty “The prince“.
Altitude and climate
San Casciano’s area is characterized by gente hills and open valleys where the vines are located generally between 250 and 350 meters high.
Due to the northernmost position of the Chianti Classico area, the area is characterized by a rather cool climate with good temperature ranges between day and night accompanied by the presence of ventilation from the coast; these conditions favour the healthy development and proper ripening of the grapes.
The temperatures remain rather mild during the year with cold but not too rigid winters and hot but not torrid summers where cooler night temperatures give breath to the plants.
Soil
Purely hilly, San Casciano is characterized by moderately clayey soils with the mixture of limestone and sand. The soil is accompanied by a strong presence of skeleton, both round pebble of river origin that stones of galestro and alberese that can vary in concentration depending on the slope and the altitudes of the vineyards.
The soils, ensuring a good availability of water, protect from the hottest years that lately turn out to be increasingly frequent in Tuscany.