TERROIR
Lucca hills
Located in northern Tuscany, between the Apennines and the Tyrrhenian Sea, Lucca is shaped by
a highly variable climate that has historically encouraged the presence of complementary grape
varieties across its territory, ensuring consistent quality in the harvest.
While the Apennines bring abundant, well-distributed rainfall throughout the year along with
significant night-time temperature swings, the Tyrrhenian Sea provides steady ventilation and
excellent light exposure.
This combination has fostered, on one hand, vast wooded areas stretching from the steep hills up to the mountains, and on the other, the flow of exceptionally pure water from the many springs scattered across the hills — giving the landscape its distinctive deep green hue.
Mild winters that open into early springs, limited temperature variation, and hillside slopes that shield the vineyards from the humidity and frost typical of the plain of Lucca, together with steady water availability and southern exposure, allow the vines to enjoy a long growing season and maintain strong photosynthetic activity even during the summer months — ensuring full grape ripening and generous harvest yields.
The soils, geologically young, originate from the two most typical Tuscan formations: the
calcareous marl known as alberese, rich in clay, and the sandstone of the Tuscan macigno. In
some areas, these elements are skillfully blended to create terroirs of great prestige, where the
power and longevity provided by clay soils harmoniously combine with the elegance and
minerality derived from sandstone.
The relative geological youth of the area ensures good natural fertility, expressed in the vigor and
strength of the vines, allowing them to adapt even to the most climatically extreme vintages.
It is this unique combination of climate and land — promoting optimal grape ripening in terms of
colour and tannin development — that gives rise to particularly smooth and intense wines:
predominantly whites on the western slopes and reds on the eastern ones.
