Buyers of this luxury Tuscan vineyard estate close to Siena could take advantage of its on-site winery for their own project.
A portion of the estate’s 10-hectare vineyard lies in the Orcia DOC, according to the listing by Italy Sotheby’s International Realty.
Exploration of the municipality of Montalcino also beckons, not to mention the chance to pick up Brunello di Montalcino wines for the cellar.
The villa itself includes a pool, bar, jacuzzi and sauna, as well as 17 bedrooms and several recently refurbished bathrooms, says Sotheby’s. There is a dedicated restaurant area, too.
The view from the terrace. Photo credit: Italy Sotheby’s International Realty.
There are also sweeping views of the Val d’Orcia countryside, an area of southern Tuscany that has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 2004.
For this, the estate is priced at the higher end of the property market with a list price of €13.5m, or close to $16m.
The living area includes a grand piano. Photo credit: Italy Sotheby’s International Realty.
Buyers can also take advantage of a vegetable garden, a stable for horses and a football pitch and tennis court, says the listing.
However, it is the promise of a homegrown winemaking project that may be of special interest to wine lovers.
John Jonk, real estate broker at Italy Sotheby’s International Realty, said that properties do come up across southern Tuscany but that ‘beautiful properties with important vineyards of this calibre are quite rare’.
Val d’Orcia in autumn. Photo Credit: Fabrizio Lunardi / Wiki Commons
Fans of Brunello di Montalcino wines may wish to hold out for vines within this famous denomination, of course. Options do come up, as shown by this seven-hectare estate listed by Christie’s International Real Estate and Romolini Immobiliare.
Yet the broader Val d’Orcia area also offers opportunities.
It’s home to the celebrated Tenuta di Trinoro winery, established by Andrea Franchetti in Tuscany’s far south, for instance.
The winery focuses largely on classic Bordeaux grapes Merlot and Cabernet Franc to produce ‘Rosso Toscana’ wines. Vini Franchetti also has a Pinot Noir project – Sancaba – in the hills above the town of San Casciano dei Bagni.
Orcia DOC: Tuscan wine under-the-radar
Sangiovese is the leading variety in the Orcia DOC, which is only 20 years old.
It lies roughly between the more renowned wine zones of Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, but the total Orcia DOC area covers 12 municipalities.
Orcia DOC red wines must contain at least 60% Sangiovese, and ‘Reserve’ wines must be aged for 24 months, with 12 of those spent in oak barrels, according to the Consorzio del Vino Orcia.
Producers can also make ‘Orcia Sangiovese’, which must contain a minimum 90% Sangiovese but is also allowed to include several other grapes, such as: Canaiolo nero, Colorino, Ciliegiolo, Foglia Tonda, Pugnitello and Malvasia. The Reserve, or Riserva, version must be aged for 30 months, with two years in oak barrels.
Red wines dominate, but whites can be made using a minimum of 50% Trebbiano toscano, a grape that goes by the name Ugni Blanc in France.
Tuscan property appeal
Several real estate agents have pointed to higher interest in Italian vineyard properties, and country retreats in general, in 2020.
Sotheby’s Italy’s John Jonk, based in Florence and covering Tuscany and Umbria, told Decanter, ‘I have seen many more buyers looking for properties, perhaps as many as four times more than the period before the pandemic.
‘Part of the reason people are buying in Tuscany is because they realise, with the experience of lockdown, that they can work from a property in the middle of the Tuscany countryside as well as they could from an office in London, Paris or New York. It has become a lifestyle choice.’
Knight Frank also said in August that international buyers were increasingly looking to rural estates in Italy and it noted rising searches for Tuscan properties between January and July.
Demand was strongest in the €1.5m to €2.5m bracket but also for properties selling at more than €10m, it said – highlighting Italy’s ‘flat-tax’ scheme as a possible added incentive for foreign buyers at the top-end of the market.
