Villa La Pagliaia is an ancient country mansion located in the middle of the Chianti Classico hills, a few kilometers from Siena. The villa was built by Giulio Bianchi Bandinelli (1769-1824), a member of a prominent and ancient Sienese family. Over the years, this property has not lost its original charm, since the elegance of the italian-style building is also reflected in the architecture of the garden in front of it. The villa is surrounded by a romantic English landscape park that blends in perfectly with the style of the Italian garden, with round flower beds bordered by low boxwood hedges and gravel paths.
Because of its unmistakable beauty, as well as for the surrounding landscape and the atmosphere of peace and serenity that reigned inside, Villa La Pagliaia soon became the home of Grand Duke Ferdinand III and his court when he was in Siena. During his stay, the Grand Duke praised the territory, the mild climate and the wide-open spaces that allowed him to enjoy a pleasant stay with his entourage.
Villa La Pagliaia produced its first bottle of wine in 1895, and is therefore one of the historic producers of the area. Located in the southern part of the Chianti Classico region, the vineyards owned by Villa La Pagliaia are characterized by a mixed soil of clay and limestone. Almost all of them are planted with Sangiovese and produce three wines of absolute excellence: Chianti Classico, Chianti Classico Riserva and Chianti Classico Gran Selezione. At the end of the 19th century, the estate was purchased by Allianz – which already owned the nearby Estate of San Felice. Since then, the respect for the local terroir and the Sangiovese have always distinguished the wines of Villa La Pagliaia, which are still appreciated throughout the world for their authentically tuscan style.
And very recently, San Felice has joined Business News Japan Wine Awards and won a gold medal in this prestigious competition:
VILLA LA PAGLIAIA Chianti Classico Riserva Docg – Castelnuovo Berardenga (Siena) Tuscany – 2015
Awarded Gold by Business News Japan
BELL’AJA Bolgheri Doc – Bolgheri, Castagneto Carducci (Livorno) Tuscany – 2016
Awarded Silver by Business News Japan
Interview of Mr. Fabrizio Nencioni – Sales Director
1: Do you already export to JAPAN ? If yes, where ? If no, what type of importers & distributors are you looking for in JAPAN ?
Villa La Pagliaia recently approached the Japan market establishing from last year a business relationship with Japan Salt Corporation, which is our national distributor based in Tokyo.
2. What is the most unique and qualitative part of your products, different from competitors ?
The aim of Villa La Pagliaia is to create wine true to their terroir enhancing the characteristics of a unique microclimate as Castelnuovo Berardenga southmost subzone of a great wine growing area as Chianti Classico which nowadays is reaching new frontier in term of quality wine making process but still approciable for a very wide platea. Our Gran Selezione is the high most example of this philosophy, produced in limited quantity only in the best vintages with a painstaking selection of the best grapes.
Villa La Pagliaia annual production of 150 000 bottles only from 20 hectar estate vineyards.
3. When did you start to export your brand worldwide, and what is your development plan for the next years ?
Villa La Pagliaia is one of the most historical wine producer from Chianti Classico area, always manly focused in the home market and from the 90′ we went to export reaching nowadays 10 different countries and the goal for the next years is right in this direction, improving our presence abroad spreading world-wide the awareness of our estate.
To know more about San Felice please visit their website : www.villalapagliaia.it
