Tenuta Petrolo

In 1834 the agronomist Giorgio Perrin, then owner of Petrolo, celebrated Sangiovese and the spot called Campo Asciutto, now Bòggina. The Bazzocchi family acquired the estate in the 1940s, and Gastone Bazzocchi, grandfather of the current owners, planted the historic Bòggina vineyard. Torrione, first made in 1988, was wanted by Lucia Bazzocchi Sanjust and made with the help of consultant Giulio Gambelli; it marks the start of the estate's new approach to winemaking, aimed at wines of the highest quality. The Galatrona vineyard followed in 1990 as Petrolo's first Merlot planting.

• 1834: agronomist Giorgio Perrin, then owner of Petrolo, celebrated the Campo Asciutto site, now Bòggina
• 1940s: the Bazzocchi family acquired the estate
• 1988: first vintage of Torrione, wanted by Lucia Bazzocchi Sanjust
• 1990: Galatrona, the estate's first Merlot vineyard, was planted

Luca Sanjust left a career as a painter to make wine at his family's estate. By 1984 he was represented by galleries in Milan, Rome and Paris, and it was his mother who persuaded him to move from Rome to Tuscany to make wine. He arrived at Petrolo in 1993 with no formal winemaking training, having instead visited the great chateaus of Bordeaux. In 2003 Wine Spectator put the family estate at 665 acres. Merlot from the vineyards his mother, Lucia, planted in 1990 was first meant for Torrione, but its potential at harvest led him to create Galatrona, named after the ruined tower at the peak of the estate. He worked with the advice of consulting enologist Giulio Gambelli. In a November 2003 profile, Wine Spectator called Galatrona one of the best Merlots in Italy, one that had been compared to top Bordeaux names including Pétrus; every vintage since the first, in 1994, had by then received at least an outstanding score from the magazine. In December 2021 Wine Spectator senior editor Bruce Sanderson published a 25-vintage vertical tasting of Galatrona, titled Galatrona: The Jewel of Petrolo.

• Former painter, represented by galleries in Milan, Rome and Paris by 1984
• Arrived at Petrolo in 1993
• Created Galatrona from Merlot originally intended for Torrione
• Galatrona takes its name from the ruined tower at the peak of the estate
• 2021: 25-vintage Galatrona vertical tasting published by Wine Spectator senior editor Bruce Sanderson

Petrolo's vineyards extend across 35 hectares at 250 to 500 meters above sea level, on soils mixing marl, sandstone and shale. The Galatrona vineyard, made up of the Galatrona, Feriale and Dottore parcels, covers 10 hectares with almost 50,000 plants of low vigor Bordeaux clones on spurred cordon, at 300 meters with south-eastern exposure on clay-rich loam with shale, marl and sandstones. Bòggina, planted with Sangiovese, has been replanted over the years through strict massal selection of its original clones. Campo Lusso, about 0.5 hectares of Cabernet Sauvignon on a natural terrace below the medieval tower of Galatrona, was planted on 11 September 2001; its name comes from a local farmers' expression for the estate's most beautiful field, a real luxury. Smaller sites include Meletana, about 1 hectare of Merlot; San Marco, just over 1 hectare of Sangiovese at 300 meters that produces for Torrione; Ospedale, about 1 hectare of Sangiovese trained in the Capovolto Toscano method and planted in 2015; and Pianacci Sperimentale, a mostly Sangiovese experimental vineyard planted with the province of Arezzo, the Agricultural University of Milan and the CRA.

• Galatrona: 10 hectares of Merlot at 300 meters on clay-rich soil, in three parcels
• Bòggina: the historic Sangiovese vineyard, replanted by massal selection
• Campo Lusso: about 0.5 hectares of Cabernet Sauvignon below the tower of Galatrona, planted 2001
• Around 5,500 plants per hectare, with yields around 20 to 25 hectoliters per hectare

Galatrona, labeled Val d'Arno di Sopra DOC Vigna Galatrona, is the estate's Grand-Cru of Merlot: 100% Merlot, first produced in 1994, at about 30,000 bottles. Torrione, which the estate calls the chateau of Petrolo, blends grapes from all the vineyards as 80% Sangiovese, 15% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon under the Val d'Arno di Sopra DOC, Pietraviva, at 50,000 bottles. Bòggina C Riserva is 100% Sangiovese, first made in 2006, at around 5,000 bottles, while Bòggina A, first made in 2011, is 100% Sangiovese from the Bòggina vineyard at around 3,000 bottles. Bòggina B, first made in 2014, is 100% Trebbiano under IGT Toscana from Tuscan Trebbiano planted in the 1970s in the Poggio vineyard, at about 14,000 bottles. Torrione Trebbiano is a non-vintage 100% Trebbiano identified by lot number, at about 4,000 bottles. Campo Lusso, the estate's Grand-Cru of Cabernet Sauvignon, dates from 2004 and runs to about 1,800 bottles. Sanpetrolo, the former Vinsanto del Chianti renamed from the 2001 vintage, is an IGT Toscana Passito of 50% white Malvasia and 50% Tuscan Trebbiano aged 9 years in small oak barrels, made in around 600 half-bottles.

• Galatrona: 100% Merlot, about 30,000 bottles
• Torrione: 80% Sangiovese, 15% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 50,000 bottles
• Bòggina A: 100% Sangiovese in amphora; Bòggina B: 100% Trebbiano; Bòggina C Riserva: 100% Sangiovese
• Campo Lusso: Cabernet Sauvignon, about 1,800 bottles; Sanpetrolo: IGT Toscana Passito

Since 2004 the estate has practiced dry farming with no fertilization, no tillage, total grassing with mulch management, and no synthetic pesticides. The winery obtained official organic certification in 2016, and its olive oil has been organic since the 1990s. After pressing, grape skins are scattered between the rows as natural fertilizer. Galatrona ferments with native yeasts in cement vats, goes through spontaneous malolactic fermentation in wood, and matures in French oak barriques, a third new, for about 18 to 20 months. Torrione ferments with native yeasts in glazed concrete vats and matures for 15 to 18 months in concrete tanks, 40-hectoliter French oak barrels, tonneaux and barriques. Bòggina A is vinified in terracotta amphorae, which are sealed with the skins for about an 8-month maceration; Bòggina B ages on its lees for over 15 months in French oak tonneaux.

• Dry farming, no tillage, and no synthetic pesticides since 2004
• Official organic certification in 2016
• Native-yeast fermentations in cement or glazed concrete vats for the reds
• Galatrona: about 18 to 20 months in French oak barriques, a third new

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://www.petrolo.it/en/, https://www.petrolo.it/en/the-wine-estate/our-history/, https://www.petrolo.it/en/the-wine-estate/the-vineyards/, https://www.petrolo.it/en/the-wine-estate/biodiversity/, https://www.petrolo.it/en/vineyards-and-wines/, https://www.petrolo.it/en/wines/galatrona/, https://www.petrolo.it/en/wines/torrione/, https://www.petrolo.it/en/wines/boggina-a/, https://www.petrolo.it/en/wines/boggina-b/, https://www.petrolo.it/en/wines/boggina-c/, https://www.petrolo.it/en/wines/campo-lusso/, https://www.petrolo.it/en/wines/san-petrolo/, https://www.petrolo.it/en/wines/torrione-trebbiano/. Secondary sources: Wine Spectator, Italy's New Faces: Luca Sanjust (November 5, 2003); Wine Spectator, Galatrona: The Jewel of Petrolo (December 14, 2021). Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs. Last verified 2026-10-12.