Biography
An estate with vineyards of high quality potential was a life-long dream for Cesare Cecchi, the grandfather of the current owners, who had inherited from his grandfather Luigi in 1925 a flourishing négociant wine firm at Poggibonsi near Siena with sales both in Italy and beyond her frontiers. His premature death in 1953 prevented him from realizing his dream. It fell to his son, Luigi as well and named for his grandfather, to realize his grandfather’s dream. He succeeded in 1962 when he purchased Villa Cerna, 300 acres of land, over 190 of which, the best exposed, are planted to vineyards, in Castellina in Chianti. Villa Cerna is one of the most suggestive estates in Chianti Classico, situated on a hillside on whose summit is an historic edifice which has given its name to the property: once a Benedictine residence (in 1001 it was registered as one of the properties of the monastery of San Salvatore dell’Isola), it was originally a fortress and then transformed into an elegant villa during the Renaissance. For Luigi Cecchi it represented a turning point in his production of wine, a new commitment to high quality. In fact, in 1971, when he decided to build the plant into which, four years later, he would move the family firm, abandoning the historic headquarters at Poggibonsi, he built it at the foot of Villa Cerna on the main Chianti road. It was he who found a synthesis between tradition and the use of modern technology in the transformation of the grapes. The excellent exposition of the hillside vineyards, situated at approximately 1000 feet above sea level, aids the grapes in attaining perfect ripeness, assisted as well by the dry and breezy micro-climate. The vineyards have been replanted using the finest selections of Sangiovese, and the Chianti Classico of the house, and particularly the Chianti Classico Riserva, previously considered part of a volume production of seven million bottles per year, are now perceived as part of the line of a house which has radically renewed its operating philosophy. But the most important wine of Villa Cerna has been, up to now, Spargolo, the name given to the best grape bunches in Tuscany, those with well spaced berries. Today the firm is directed by the children of Luigi Cecchi: Cesare, with a degree in political science and a year at Columbia University, in charge of sales and marketing, and Andrea, armed with a doctorate in agronomy and supervisor of production.