Castello di Ama

Ama is a small eighteenth-century village in the municipality of Gaiole. In 1773 Grand Duke Leopold of Tuscany wrote that the hills and valleys surrounding the castle of Ama were the most beautiful of all Chianti. Castello di Ama was founded in 1976, when four families originally from Rome set out to restore a wine estate in the heart of Chianti Classico. The estate originally consisted of 55 hectares; the founders invested in the vineyards and built a new winery equipped with steel tanks and temperature control. Marco Pallanti, then a young agronomist, arrived in 1982 to take over the winemaking. In the 1980s the estate produced single-vineyard Chianti Classico selections: Vigneto Bellavista from the 1978 vintage, Vigneto San Lorenzo from 1982, Vigneto La Casuccia from 1985 and Vigneto Bertinga from 1988. Merlot, first overgrafted onto a small parcel of Canaiolo and Malvasia Bianca, went on to receive a label of its own as L'Apparita. Lorenza Sebasti, daughter of one of the founding partners, joined the estate in 1988. Castello di Ama left the Chianti Classico consortium in 1993 and later rejoined after a separation of 12 years.

• 1976: founded by four families originally from Rome, on an estate of 55 hectares.
• 1982: Marco Pallanti arrived to take over the winemaking.
• 1988: Lorenza Sebasti, daughter of a founding partner, joined the estate.
• 1993: left the Chianti Classico consortium, rejoining after a separation of 12 years.

Lorenza Sebasti is CEO of Castello di Ama, and Marco Pallanti holds the role of general manager and oenologist, which he has held continuously. Pallanti served as President of the Chianti Classico Consortium between 2006 and 2012, and Castello di Ama credits him with contributing to the creation of the Gran Selezione category. The estate employs more than 60 people and does not use external contractors.

• CEO: Lorenza Sebasti, at the estate since 1988.
• General manager and oenologist: Marco Pallanti, at the estate since 1982.
• More than 60 people work at Castello di Ama; no external contractors are used.

Castello di Ama's vineyards lie in the municipality of Gaiole in Chianti, within the Gaiole additional geographical unit (UGA) of Chianti Classico. About 75 hectares are under vine around the village of Ama, between 420 and 527 metres above sea level, across four valleys known by their traditional names: Bellavista, San Lorenzo, La Casuccia and Montebuoni. The four valleys lie within 1.5 km of the winemaking cellar, and all production comes from vineyards the estate farms itself. Castello di Ama has replanted almost all of its vineyards, settling on a standard of 5,500 plants per hectare, and has terraced slopes to gain better exposures. The stones covering the vineyard soils include lighter albarese, made of limestone, and darker galestro, made of schist.

• Bellavista: 22.5 hectares facing S/SW at 427 to 515 metres, on pebbly soil of mostly clay and chalk; a cru has been made from its best grapes since the 1978 vintage.
• San Lorenzo: 16.5 hectares facing E/SE at 466 to 525 metres, on chalky soil with clay-rich schist; it is named after the fifteenth-century chapel in the village of Ama.
• La Casuccia: 16.1 hectares at 483 to 527 metres, barely two kilometres north of the village, terraced with stone walls so the Sangiovese rows face N/S; clay soil with a large amount of stones.
• Montebuoni: 14.7 hectares facing S/SW at 420 to 508 metres, purchased in 1997; planted to Sangiovese (7.74 ha, 1998), Merlot (2.76 ha, 1999 to 2002), Cabernet Franc (1.97 ha, 2001) and Malvasia Nera (1.84 ha, 2002).
• L'Apparita: about 3 hectares of open lyre-trained vines at 501 metres, named because the tower of Siena's city hall appears in the distance from the parcel's highest point.

Castello di Ama's San Lorenzo Gran Selezione is made from the finest grapes of the Bellavista, Casuccia, San Lorenzo and Montebuoni vineyards: Sangiovese blended with the smallest quantities of Merlot and Malvasia Nera. Vigneto Bellavista is approximately 80% Sangiovese with Malvasia Nera, and very few bottles are made, in exceptional vintages. Vigneto La Casuccia, first made in 1985, is approximately 85% Sangiovese with Merlot and is produced only in exceptional vintages. Ama, almost entirely Sangiovese, was added with the 2010 vintage, when the Gran Selezione quality criterion was introduced in Chianti Classico. Montebuoni, a Chianti Classico Riserva, was first made with the 2018 vintage as the direct descendant of the Castello di Ama Riserva, whose most recent vintage was 2009. Haiku blends 50% Sangiovese with equal parts Cabernet Franc and Merlot. L'Apparita comes from two parcels at the top of the Bellavista vineyard, and Castello di Ama calls it the first purebred Merlot produced in Tuscany.

• Chianti Classico DOCG: Ama. Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG: Montebuoni.
• Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG: Castello di Ama San Lorenzo, Vigneto Bellavista and Vigneto La Casuccia.
• Toscana IGT: Haiku, L'Apparita and Purple Rose, plus Il Chiuso (Pinot Nero di Toscana IGT) and Al Poggio (Chardonnay di Toscana IGT).
• Also a Vinsanto del Chianti Classico DOC and a Grappa di Chianti Classico.

Since 2000 Castello di Ama has used mating disruption (sexual confusion) in its vineyards, which removes the need for insecticides. Since the 2018 vintage it has produced its wines with zero residue of synthetic chemical molecules. In 2022 the estate adopted the Equalitas sustainability certification for the wine supply chain. The hills of Ama also carry olive groves on traditional terraces, from which the estate makes extra virgin olive oil.

• 2000: mating disruption adopted in the vineyards in place of insecticides.
• 2018 vintage onward: wines with zero residue of synthetic chemical molecules.
• 2022: Equalitas sustainability certification adopted.

Castello di Ama's contemporary art collection began in 2000 with an installation by Michelangelo Pistoletto, 'Ama's tree: multiplication and division of the mirror'. Each work is conceived and executed site-specific. Works include Daniel Buren's 'On the vineyards: points of view' (2001), Pascale Marthine Tayou's 'Le chemin du bonheur' (2012), Hiroshi Sugimoto's 'Confession of zero' (2014) and Mirosław Bałka's 'Red nerve' (2019); a work by Jenny Holzer was completed in 2021. The art project grew out of a collaboration with Galleria Continua that continued until 2014; curator Philip Larratt-Smith worked with the estate from 2014 to 2021. Since the founding, the labels have carried the knight Guidoriccio da Fogliano as painted by Simone Martini, stylized by the painter Gian Carozzi (1920-2008).

• Collection begun in 2000 with Michelangelo Pistoletto's installation.
• Artists in the collection include Daniel Buren, Anish Kapoor, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Lee Ufan, Roni Horn and Jenny Holzer.
• Collaboration with Galleria Continua until 2014; curator Philip Larratt-Smith from 2014 to 2021.

In Wine Spectator's annual Top 100, Castello di Ama's San Lorenzo Gran Selezione placed No. 6 in 2014, and the San Lorenzo Gran Selezione 2021 was named the No. 9 wine of 2025 with 95 points. In Decanter, Aldo Fiordelli recounted that L'Apparita 1987 beat Pétrus 1988, Le Pin and 16 other Merlot wines at a tasting hosted by the Académie du Vin in Switzerland on 8 February 1992.

• Wine Spectator Top 100: San Lorenzo Gran Selezione No. 6 of 2014; San Lorenzo Gran Selezione 2021 No. 9 of 2025 (95 points).

Marco Pallanti sets out the estate's approach in his own words: 'Wine has to spring from the rock of the vineyards and reflect its characteristics.' Wine Spectator ties the Castello di Ama style of 'elegance, intensity and tension' to its high-elevation vineyards. Writing about L'Apparita, Decanter's Aldo Fiordelli credits altitude, soil and climate for a style with 'fresh fruit, pleasant acidity and a leaner body, more elegance than power.'

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://castellodiama.com/en/origin, https://castellodiama.com/en/our-vineyards, https://castellodiama.com/en/wines, https://castellodiama.com/en/sustainability, https://castellodiama.com/en/products, https://castellodiama.com/en/wines/ama, https://castellodiama.com/en/wines/castello-di-ama-san-lorenzo, https://castellodiama.com/en/wines/vigneto-bellavista, https://castellodiama.com/en/wines/vigneto-la-casuccia, https://castellodiama.com/en/wines/l-apparita, https://castellodiama.com/en/wines/haiku, https://castellodiama.com/en/wines/castello-di-ama-riserva, https://castellodiama.com/en/wines/montebuoni, https://castellodiama.com/en/collection, https://castellodiama.com/en/the-artists. Official body: Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico, https://www.chianticlassico.com/en/estates/castello-di-ama/. Secondary sources: Wine Spectator (https://top100.winespectator.com/2014/article/caring-for-chianti/, https://top100.winespectator.com/2025/wine/wine-no-9-chianti-classico/, https://www.winespectator.com/articles/castello-di-ama-rejoins-the-chianti-classico-consortium-2756) and Decanter (Aldo Fiordelli, last updated 28 July 2017, https://www.decanter.com/wine-reviews-tastings/30-years-of-castello-di-ama-lapparita-357651/). Last verified 2026-10-19. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.