Tenuta di Trinoro

Tenuta di Trinoro sits in a remote corner of southeastern Tuscany, in the Orcia Valley near Sarteano, where Tuscany meets Umbria and Lazio. Founder Andrea Franchetti (1949-2021) acquired the property in the 1980s and began planting his first vines at the beginning of the 1990s. He spent time in Bordeaux with Alain Vauthier, Jean-Luc Thunevin and Peter Vinding-Diers, among others. In the rough woodland that would become Trinoro, he saw clay-limestone and gravel soils reminiscent of those in Saint-Émilion; he cleared select parcels by hand and planted them in the style of the Bordelais, with high-density, meter-by-meter plantings and cuttings from some of the region's great estates. The first vines were planted in 1991, and the first vintage of Tenuta di Trinoro was 1997.

• Location: the Orcia Valley near Sarteano, where Tuscany meets Umbria and Lazio.
• First vines planted in 1991; first vintage of Tenuta di Trinoro in 1997.
• The Val d'Orcia has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2004.
• The estate is planted solely with Bordelais grapes, with a strong preponderance of Cabernet Franc.

The vines are planted between 400 and 620 meters on southwestern facing slopes, with Cabernet Franc and Merlot dominating and small parcels of Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot on the perimeter. The estate's own figures for planted area differ: its vineyards page gives 23 hectares under vine, while its about page gives 24 planted hectares within an estate of about 200 hectares. Planting density is 10,000 plants per hectare. The soils of the Val d'Orcia are largely blue clay, limestone and gravel in varying amounts. Three Cabernet Franc parcels are bottled separately: Campo di Camagi, a 1.5-hectare vineyard on broken quartz and limestone at 550 meters; Campo di Magnacosta, a 1.5-hectare parcel of river gravel and silt on the valley bottom at 400 meters, planted with cuttings from a vineyard in Pomerol; and Campo di Tenaglia, a 0.8-hectare vineyard on crumbled limestone at 500 meters.

• 23 hectares under vine between 400 and 620 meters (vineyards page); about 200 hectares in total with 24 planted (about page).
• Density: 10,000 plants per hectare.
• Bianco Trinoro comes from a 5,141-square-meter parcel of sand at about 600 meters, planted partially in 2001 and completed in 2006.
• Campo di Magnacosta has been bottled separately since 2011.

The estate characterizes Franchetti's winemaking style as tight planting, high thinning, very low yields, extreme ripeness and concentration of flavor, and describes the wines as highly perfumed and opulent. The flagship blend changes each year based on which grapes are best in that vintage, wed to no predetermined recipe. For the 2022 vintage, 50 separate parcels were hand harvested; fermentation ran 10-15 days in stainless steel tanks, followed by 8 months in 225-liter barriques and 12 months in concrete. Decanter gives a general figure of six to eight months in French oak barriques, with 15-20% new oak on average. From the 2020 vintage, the wine is kept in bottle for an additional 12 months before release. The team works biodynamically and bottles only on a waning moon; the 2022 was bottled during the waning moon of early March 2024. As of June 2023, the team comprised Andrea's son Benjamin Franchetti, winemaker Lorenzo Fornaini and technical director Calogero Portannese.

• 2022 flagship: 44% Cabernet Franc, 44% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot; 8,483 bottles.
• Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot were not chosen for the flagship from 2015 until their return in 2022.
• 2021 flagship: 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc from 45 harvested parcels; 8,590 bottles, bottled during the waning moon of May 2023.
• Team as of June 2023: Benjamin Franchetti, winemaker Lorenzo Fornaini, technical director Calogero Portannese.

Besides the flagship, the estate makes Palazzi, a selection of 100% Merlot; the Campi, three single-vineyard wines of 100% Cabernet Franc; and Le Cupole, the second wine. Le Cupole, first produced in 1995, blends Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot in percentages that vary with each vintage, and is fermented in stainless steel and aged in one to three year old barriques and cement. Palazzi was made from 1997 to 1999, then set aside for ten years, and Franchetti began producing it again with the 2009 vintage. Bianco Trinoro is 100% Semillon; the estate produced it on and off from 2008, and the first vintage released was the 2017. Annual production is approximately 120,000 bottles, 70% of it Le Cupole. Franchetti's second vineyard project was Passopisciaro, on the slopes of Mount Etna in Sicily.

• Palazzi comes from a selection of older Merlot vines comprising about five to seven hectares.
• Le Cupole is the second wine of Tenuta di Trinoro, first produced in 1995.
• I Campi: Campo di Camagi, Campo di Magnacosta and Campo di Tenaglia, all 100% Cabernet Franc.
• Sancaba is a new Pinot Noir project from Tenuta di Trinoro and Passopisciaro, above San Casciano dei Bagni.

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://www.vinifranchetti.com/tenuta-di-trinoro/about-tenuta-di-trinoro/, https://www.vinifranchetti.com/tenuta-di-trinoro/the-vineyards/, https://www.vinifranchetti.com/tenuta-di-trinoro/the-wines/tenuta-di-trinoro/, https://www.vinifranchetti.com/tenuta-di-trinoro/the-wines/le-cupole/, https://www.vinifranchetti.com/tenuta-di-trinoro/the-wines/palazzi/, https://www.vinifranchetti.com/tenuta-di-trinoro/the-wines/campo-di-camagi/, https://www.vinifranchetti.com/tenuta-di-trinoro/the-wines/campo-di-magnacosta/, https://www.vinifranchetti.com/tenuta-di-trinoro/the-wines/campo-di-tenaglia/, https://www.vinifranchetti.com/tenuta-di-trinoro/the-wines/bianco-di-trinoro/, https://www.vinifranchetti.com/about-vinifranchetti/, https://www.vinifranchetti.com/contacts-vinifranchetti/, https://www.vinifranchetti.com/tenuta-di-trinoro/the-wines/tenuta-di-trinoro/tenuta-di-trinoro-2022/, https://www.vinifranchetti.com/tenuta-di-trinoro/the-wines/tenuta-di-trinoro/tenuta-di-trinoro-2021/. Secondary sources: https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/andrea-franchetti-obituary-470212/, https://www.decanter.com/premium/tenuta-di-trinoro-producer-profile-18-wines-tasted-502937/, https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/farewell-andrea-franchetti-1949-2021. Last verified 2026-10-12. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.