About Cuna

Anyone who says Federico Staderini immediately thinks of one of Brunello di Montalcino's hyper stars, Poggio di Sotto. For this Tuscan giant, internationally no price seems too high with which this sangiovese from Italy beats the lakhs of Cru's Classé's from Bordeaux.

But the humble Staderini, agronomist & oenologist, also went within Tuscany in search of special "terroirs" where he could realize his pinot noir dream. He found the ultimate spot high in the hills on the eastern side of Tuscany, north of Arezzo and about an hour east of Florence. Near the hamlet of Pratovecchio, he found the right soil and exposition to plant the noble pinot noir. The project began in 2003 with the planting of the rare grape abrostine. In 2004, the first pinot noir vines went into the calcareous clay soil.

The entire acreage is only a modest 4.5 hectares. Frederico cultivates everything biodynamically and uses only the yeasts naturally occurring on the grape during fermentation. The picked fruit here is still trampled barefoot in the traditional manner.

The harvest lasts on average from early September to early October, the early picked grapes are 75 to 80% destemmed. 90% of the last harvested grapes enter the fermentation vats as complete bunches. Both in the vineyard and later in the cellar, the grapes undergo rigorous quality control. During fermentation, the supernatant skins are pressed down into the fermenting juice. This technique is called "pigeage. He uses cement as well as old oak vats or chestnut conical cuves for fermentation. The first fruit ferments for 15 to 17 days on average while the last fruit harvested takes 22 to 24 days. Following fermentation, the wines typically age for 20 months in used French oak Burgundy barrels. This is followed by aging in bottle for at least 12 months before the wine is sold.