Biography
The territory came under the ownership of the ancient church of San Felice in Avane, point of contention among the bishops of Arezzo and Siena since 714. Since the 19th century, San Felice was owned by the marquises of Taja, who were among the founders of Consorzio del Chianti Classico in 1924. The company suffered the post-war crisis due to the depopulation of the countryside: it was sold by the Grisaldi del Taja in 1968 to an important financial group and then to RAS, today Allianz: thus begins the development of the company devoted to a quality production.
San Felice is located in the town of Castelnuovo Berardenga, a few kilometers from Siena, in the heart of Chianti Classico. The small medieval village and the modern cellar are surrounded by 140 hectares of vineyards, most of them planted in Sangiovese, thus witnessing San Felice’s commitment to the production of Chianti Classico, such as Riserva ‘ Il Grigio’ and Gran Selezione ‘Poggio Rosso’.
But at the same time San Felice has distinguished himself to be a very innovative producer committed to research. This is shown by the historic ‘Vigorello’, precursor of Supertuscans and ‘Pugnitello’, from the homonymous ancient Tuscan grape, being the result of rediscovery and long experimentation conducted with the support of University of Florence.
In 1990, an important renovation project for the village of San Felice was carried out, with the creation of an elegant hotel, member of the prestigious “Relais & Chateaux” chain, which for several years has been classified by ‘Traveller’ magazine among the best Resorts in Europe .