Il Colombaio di Santa Chiara
The story begins like many in Italy, a family farm built by hard work. Mario Logi, who began working the land as a teenager in the 1950s, acquired his own property and raised a family. In 2002, the youngest son, Alessio, who had already started Oenological studies, wanted to put his efforts and passion to good use and make wine from the their own vineyards. It quickly became a family project and the winery, Il Colombaio di Santa Chiara, was born.
A few years earlier Mario had purchased the Parish San Donato with its, chapel, parsonage and fields. The first, small wine cellar was built there. The brothers, Giampiero, Stefano and Alessio, enjoyed working together, experiencing the beauty of the land. Of course Mario was there to help and support them with his extensive knowledge of the vines. The property is now Locanda dei Logi, a beautiful inn just a short distance from San Gimignano.
All good wine begins in the vineyard and wines that express their terroir especially so. Drawing on his long experience and instincts developed over a lifetime of farming, Mario and his sons are constantly among their vines. A vineyard, by its nature is not ‘natural‘ and its health requires attention. This begins with having a healthy biosphere surrounding the plants and is the reason they worked hard to obtain organic farming certification.
From the beginning, the focus was on Vernaccia di San Gimignano. Using a unique varietal was the perfect platform to express the characteristics of the land. Every step, every vintage has been made with an eye toward improving the ability of the wine to tell the story. Thanks to the collaboration of oenologist, Nicola Berti, we now work with shorter macerations, resulting in wines that are more and more balanced, and focused.
In a very short period of time, through hard work and a focus on quality they made their Vernaccia di San Gimignano a world-class wine. Their 2005 Albereta Riserva and Selvabianca received recognition from Gamberro Rosso and Slow Food. Each subsequent vintage, along with their red wines has followed up on that success. Their 2011 Campo Della Pieve was awarded Tre Bicchieri in 2014, followed by the ’11, ’12, and ’13 Albereta Riserva (in 2015, ‘16 and ’17 respectively), and most recently their 2017 Selvabianca was awarded Tre Bicchieri in 2019.
In the past the wish of each wine maker was to make a good wine: this was the passionate bond between the winemaker and the vineyard. My father Mario handed me down this passion. He taught me that the vines are a reflection of the land and it can be only improved in the cellar, and not changed. The secrets of the excellence found in my wines are from a responsible treatment of the land by refusing to use pesticides, devoting constant awareness in the vineyard while grapes are growing, followed by the careful selection of the grapes during the harvest which is always done manually.
– Alessio Logi