The Niccolai family has deep roots in San Gimignano, particularly Luano Niccolai, founder of Tenute Niccolai, the original core of the Palagetto estate. Ever since he planted the first few hectares of vineyards at Santa Chiara, near the location of today’s , the estate has grown and expanded to include more than 60 hectares of land, primarily planted with vineyards and olive groves. San Gimignano is the homeland of a wine that breaks with the traditional definition of Tuscany as a land of red wines: Vernaccia di San Gimignano, the white queen of Tuscan grapes, surrounded on all sides by noble reds. This varietal, which lends its name to the local DOCG wine, is documented in the area since the thirteenth century; Vernaccia di San Gimignano is the only wine to be mentioned in Dante’s Divine Comedy. It is a sapid, mineral wine, fresh yet appropriate for ageing, ideally representing the spirit of the women and men of the land. Alongside Vernaccia di San Gimignano, Palagetto offers a vast selection of other wines, products of the creativity of the family that has always managed the estate and the illustrious oenologists it has worked with over the years.
Luano Niccolai, a businessman of great acumen, had ancient roots in the land, coming from a family of farmers. At the time of Italy’s great economic boom, he left behind his farming roots to pursue a career in industry. He worked in a camper factory before putting his talent for enterprise to work and founding his own company, Rimor.
By the ’80s the business was doing very well, and Luano decided to reinvest in his roots in the countryside. He started by purchasing a few hectares of vineyards, but the project he had in mind was much more ambitious: it took the form of Tenute Niccolai, a project continued and expanded by Luano’s daughter Sabrina.
A successful businesswoman with her father’s sparkle in her eyes, Sabrina consolidated what he had created and handed it all down to her three children.
