Podere di Pomaio is a winery with è una contemporary incliation, but rich of connections with the history and the memory of its territory.
Podere di Pomaio, whose name comes from the latin word “Pomarium” (the place of fruits), is located in one of the hills above Arezzo, an ancient town on the eastern Tuscany. If we have an overview on the circle of hills surrounding the town, it is easy to imagine the lake that there used to be on the western side of them instead of Arezzo’s plateau, during the Etruscan times. That’s why Arezzo’s first settlement first developed on the hills, staring from the one where there’s now its historical city center. The winery is situated in the heart of Podere di Pomaio, at 500mt above sea level, along the road of the Etruscan aqueduct, with a panoramic city view. Thanks to the south-west exposure, the light that illuminates Pomaio is the same as the one that Piero della Francesca used to paint on his artworks, and the same of those Tuscan hills going to the Mediterranean sea.
Project
The winery has been built with gigantic boulders made of sandstone, submarine fans sediments, from 30 million years ago. Those prehistoric boulders are componing the crown of the internal and external production area. The fills, made in pozzolanic mortar, thanks to high level of porousness, are allowing the wall to breath. Also temperature and humidity are self-controlled, with no need of extra energy consumption.
Two souls are represented in the winery. One is visible in the building façade that you can see once you arrive there, made of old recovered bricks, reminding the ancient farm, typical of Arezzo surrounding valleys. Almost a reassuring backdrop hiding the other soul of Pomaio’s winery, the one that has to meet the specific technical and functional needs, for a highly specialized production, split between the productive area and the product showroom.
The main characteristic of the building is the use of natural materials like stone, lime, wood, fused basalt, that overlaps the light metal cover. This last one is protecting the winery with large porches, avoiding the overheating. The upper floor, mostly dedicated to the communication of the product, is made of wide windows with a view on vineyards and surrounding landscape. It helps creating a relationship between the visitor and the territory, during a tasting or a visit, perceiving how much this last one is part of whole experience.
The project has been developed in collaboration with the winemaker and the entrepreneur, with great care of energy efficiency. We adopted solutions like geothermal energy for cooling both the room and the vats used for the fermentation.
Hospitality
The wine tasting experience takes places in a couple of relaxing and interesting hours focused on organic quality wine and its production. The first part of the experience is composed of a tour of the vineyard, introducing the visitor to the cultivation of the vineyard and the choices we made. The second part is more focused on the wine production, visiting the cellar in bio-architecture, the real heart of Podere di Pomaio. The last part of the experience is the tasting, that takes place in the upper floor of the winery. Together with our wines, we are going to serve cheese and charcuterie from local producers (Classic wine tour), or a light lunch (Magnum wine tour). While wines are breathing, to express at the best their bouquet of aromas, the visitors will be introduced to the tasting techinques.
It is also possible to stay at Podere di Pomaio in one of the 2 villas with private pool, and enjoy comfort and tradition with the family or a group of friends.
Wines
The small artisan production of wine is of 15.000/20.000 bottles per year, mostly from Sangiovese variety. We just process our own grapes in the cellar, and the organic and sustainable wines made from them are expressing this territory with elegance. The perfect exposition of the land, the altitude of 550 mt above sea level, the good temperature changes while the grapes are ripening, are helping the aromas to develop. T the same time, the draining soil rich of skeletons is giving to our parfumed wines a mineral touch. Five labels from 2 varieties, Sangiovese and Merlot, for an unusual and innovating expression of this territory. Starting from easier and immediate wines like Pomaio Origini and Chianti D.O.C.G., we are reaching more complex and structured wines like Clante, 100% Merlot cultivated with the alberello method, and Porsenna, pure Sangiovese 100% aged in oak and chestnut barrels. Together with them, our rose wine Rosantico, still from sangiovese grapes, it is the maximum expression of the minerality and elegance of our lands.
Pamaio Orgini
IGT Toscana Rosso
Chianti
D.O.C.G.
Clante
IGT Toscana Merlot
Porsenna
IGT Toscana Rosso
Rosantico
IGT Toscana Rosato
Territory
Many famous artists were born surrounded by the unique atmosphere you can find in the valleys of Arezzo province: Michelangelo, Petrarca, Guido Monaco, Vasari, Piero della Francesca, Pietro Aretino, Mecenate, Masaccio, Signorelli and many others. Arezzo and his territory are rich of masterpieces, monuments, and history, such as the wooden crucifix from Cimabue or the frescoes from Piero della Francesca “Leggenda della Vera Croce”. The town is a main destination for history and arts in Tuscany, it has beautiful squares like Pazza Grande (Vasari), and many important museums. Thanks to the strategic position among Casentino, Valdarno, Valdichiana e Valtiberina, Arezzo can be a sort of base for daily trips around Tuscany. It is easy to reach the main towns of the centre of Italy like Firenze, Siena, Roma, Perugia, but also smaller and charming destinations like Cortona, Pienza, Montalcino, Montepulciano and Orcia Valley, Monte San Savino, Lucignano, Sansepolcro, Anghiari, Assisi.