FORNACELLE Estate is located on the Tuscan Coast, along the Strada del Vino Costa degli Etruschi, the Wine Road of Etruscan Coast.
It belongs to Bolgheri DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata), one of the most prestigious Italian wine regions.
The farm was founded at the end of the XIX Century and it has always been a family estate. In 1998 Stefano Billi inherited the property from his grandfather and planted the new vineyards. A few years ago Stefano’s wife, Silvia, joined in the management of the estate.
Today Fornacelle estate covers a total surface area of 15 hectares. The vineyard extends for 8 hectares. The rest of the farm consists of an olive-grove of 1000 plants, a 1 hectare peach-orchard, and various vegetable gardens.
The vineyard is situated 50 m. above sea level, the varieties grown are Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc for red wines, Vermentino, Sauvignon Blanc, Fiano and Sémillon for white wines.
The training systems are Guyot and low cordon spurs with a density of 6.000/8.000 plants per hectare and a yields are around 65%-70%. The estate has different types of soils, middle-hard with gravely structure, clayey and stony, which add more complexity to wines.
“In 2004 we planted a vineyard of two special white varieties: Sémillon and Fiano, because, as a result of our research, both grapes could give excellent expression in our wine estate. The first harvest of those white grapes was in 2006.”
