Il Colombaio di Santa Chiara

San Gimignano, Toscana

The Logi brothers began the winery Il Colombaio di Santa Chiara in 2002, inspired and supported by their father Mario, who began working the vines on the hills of Siena in the 1950’s as a young boy. “Colombaio” means dovecote, and the name, along with the label design, pay homage to a historic dovecote on the property. The winery is built on the San Donato parish property, named for a small Romanesque church on the ancient Via Francigena. The vineyard plantings are 21 hectares within the Vernaccia di San Gimignano DOCG area, and the farm is also home to forests and 3,000 olive trees.

The vineyard soils are largely upper Pliocene sands with clay, pebbles and gravel, also graced with some very old formations of limestone. The potential for elegance from these soils is realized through passionate attention to detail on the part of Alessio Logi, the brother who serves as enologist, devoted to displaying the greatness of the Vernaccia di San Gimignano grape.

Taught by Mario that the vines are a reflection of the land, the brothers farm completely organically. The hand-harvested grapes are handled with utmost care, transferred in small cassettes and gently pressed rather than crushed. The single-vineyard wines from the high elevation “Campo della Pieve” and “L’Albereta” sites have been continuously awarded with the prestigious Gambero Rosso awards.