Our Organic Winery and Farm
Located in the heart of the Chianti "Gallo Nero" region, the Podere Erica farm is situated on over 30 acres with grape vines, olive trees, pastures, and woodland. Our small, approximately 5-acre vineyard is principally planted with Sangiovese, one of the oldest Italian grapes, which forms the foundation of the wines traditionally produced in Chianti. Along with Sangiovese, we also grow the traditional varieties Canaiolo, Trebbiano and Moscato.
With the tremendous passion and dedication of our winemaker, Marco Giordano, we are realizing our dream to produce fantastic natural wines that are true to both the terroir and the tradition of winemaking in Chianti. By employing organic and biodynamic processes in the vineyard and in the cantina, Marco protects the health of our land while ensuring that our wines are safer to drink (no added chemicals and low levels of sulfites).
Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
In addition to our vineyard, we also have a small grove of olive trees producing approximately 350 liters of organic extra virgin olive oil per year. The olive grove consists of about 400 plants of Moraiolo, Leccino and Frantoio varieties. We manually harvest our olives and immediately after harvest, we take the olives to our local press or "frantoio" for cold-pressing.
Farm Animals at Podere Erica
In 2016, we began to grow our farm operations by adding farm animals.
We started simply with a few hens that we rescued from a nearby commercial farm. Our hens now enjoy a humane lifestyle and provide our guest with fresh eggs.
In 2017, we started our most ambitious farm animal raising project - our Mangalitsa pigs from Hungary! We decided to import this breed because their meat (even their fat) is highly regarded in the culinary world and has no cholesterol. Dante (our large hog) and Beatrice (la mamma) are the solid foundation of our operation. They are surprisingly docile and incredibly distinct for their fuzzy coat. The pigs are forest foragers and have a large fenced area of our woodland where they can roam freely. We supplement what they find with a special blend of corn, grain and beans. They also love to get kitchen scraps!
The most recent additions to our family of farm animals are two Amiatino donkeys - a local Tuscan breed of donkey. Gina and Pina are great protectors of our hens and even though they have full reign of many acres of forest, they still love treats of carrots and apples.
