Tenuta Bossi

Tenuta Bossi, owned by the Gondi family since 1592, has always been renowned for its wine. It lies among the wooded hills north-east of Florence, in the heart of Chianti Rufina, a wine-growing area celebrated since the time of the Etruscans. This jewel sits in a vine-clad valley among the hills 18 km from Florence, between 200 and 400 metres above sea level. The estate extends over 315 hectares, of which 19 are under vine and 32 under olive, alongside cereals and woodland. The stately Renaissance villa, which commands the valley with its monumental park and its cellars, was restored and altered in the centuries following its purchase. Beside the villa, Antonino Gondi had a church with three altars built.

The family has believed in the land in which this estate is set, the Chianti Rufina that makes the wine produced here singular and unmistakable.

The present owners, the twenty-fifth generation of winemakers at Tenuta Bossi, are the Marchese Bernardo Gondi and his sister Donatella, assisted by Bernardo's sons Gerardo and Lapo. They carry on the family tradition, seeking to uphold what their forebears have always done: to preserve the integrity and the beauty of the setting in which the estate lies, and to pursue the philosophy that has always distinguished Tenuta Bossi, the unceasing pursuit of the very highest quality. Like skilled craftsmen, romantic vignerons, they shape the bunch of grapes into wine, giving it a soul that makes their wines singular.

Read more on wikipedia

The earliest historical records of the wines of present-day Chianti Rufina date from the opening years of the fifteenth century. In the eighteenth century the Medici recognised in this area a particular aptitude for the production of great wines. This wine-growing area was included in the Bando dei Vini of 1716 issued by Cosimo III de' Medici.

The land lies at an average of 350 metres above sea level, close to the mountains but also to the rivers Arno and Sieve, which brings ample ventilation and humidity and thus marked shifts in temperature. These conditions give the wines greater primary aromas. The soils of the estate are a mixture of clay, galestro and calcareous sediment. The vine must therefore labour hard to reach its nourishment, and the wines are accordingly of great structure with a fine freshness. Two qualities that afford them great longevity, matched with fine aromas.

The 19 hectares of vineyard yield Sangiovese, Colorino from a native clone propagated here for more than a hundred years, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Trebbiano Toscano, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. These grapes, grown with respect for the environment and picked by hand with particular care, are vinified in the monumental vaulted cellars beneath the villa.

The 32 hectares of olive grove hold various cultivars traditional to the area, with some 70% of the trees of the Frantoio variety and the remaining 30% Moraiolo, Pendolino and Leccino.

see the vineyards

Our values

Marchesi Gondi – Tenuta Bossi has been known for its wines and its oil since the Renaissance. Bonaccorso Gondi, and after him his children Bernardo and Donatella Gondi, established the estate's standing in the world of wine, trialling modern techniques of vinification while keeping their hearts bound to the culture and philosophy that have distinguished the estate for fully twenty-five generations.

Indeed, they continue to make a wine whose roots lie deep in the magnificent Chianti Rufina land that rises above the estate, while trialling both international and native varieties.

The humour is the great passion of those who labour in the vineyard all year round. The light is the Tuscan sun that shines upon the bunches and nourishes them. Humour and light give us the finest grapes from which to make great wines.

The estate's cellars lie partly beneath the villa and partly beneath the park, in the shade of centuries-old trees. The philosophy of the estate is precisely the preservation of its setting and of its traditions of high quality. From the very beginning the Gondi family have distinguished themselves as romantic vignerons, bound to tradition and to the land, qualities handed down through more than twenty-five generations.

At Tenuta Bossi we have not yielded to the temptation of novelty in the cellar; rather, by joining perfect care of the vines to produce healthy, ripe grapes with attentive vinification under constant human watch and a judicious use of wood, we arrive at products that are singular and distinctive without losing the savour of tradition. The red wines, after due maturation in the many oak casks and in barriques, are then aged in bottle.

Tenuta Bossi produces some 800 to 900 hectolitres of wine, comprising Chianti Rufina DOCG, Super Tuscan IGT, Bianco dei Colli dell'Etruria Centrale DOC, Rosato dei Colli della Toscana Centrale IGT, Vin Santo del Chianti Rufina DOC and the Grappa. Two kinds of extra virgin olive oil of great distinction are also produced, among them the Laudemio.