What was love at first sight more than 40 years ago is now a thriving winery. Rudi Bindella sen. and his local team have invested plenty of passion, dedication and hard work to create a model company. The 2.5 hectares of land they had in 1983 have now grown to 175 hectares, of which one third is planted with vines. «We feel that we have grown together with this land. Tenuta Vallocaia is my ‹piccolo paradiso›,» says Rudi Bindella sen.

In 2024 we are celebrating 40 years of Vallocaia!

Viticulture – 01 November 2024
One package, six wines and all the wine magic of Montepulciano in a glass! Our «Vallocaia» tasting package brings the diversity and passion of our tenuta directly to your home. Whether fresh and fruity, powerful or elegant – each of these wines tells its own story. Perfect for anyone wishing to experience the terroir in all its richness!

Viticulture – 11 October 2024
Presenting the wine that bears the name of our tenuta: Vallocaia 2020 is now officially one of the 300 best wines in Italy! A special award presented to us by the experts of Vinibuoni d’Italia.

With its new label – modern yet classic – and the best grapes from our oldest vineyards, this Vino Nobile di Montepulciano docg Riserva 2020 embodies the full potential of Sangiovese. Aged for 24 months in French oak, it has intense aromas of ripe berries, wild cherries and warm spices. Scoring 95 points in the Falstaff guide and taking second place among the top Montepulciano wines, this vintage is a testament to our passion for the terroir, for the art of winemaking, and for wine. Vallocaia 2020 is now available to you in our wine shop!

Vintage year – 07.10.2024
It is with great anticipation that we look forward to the harvest season in this wine year, which has been anything but ordinary. A cool, rainy spring gave us an abundant grape crop, but then summer arrived with its oppressive heat and prolonged dry spells. These factors caused the grapes to mature almost too quickly. Just as the grapevines began to suffer from the drought, the long-awaited rain at the end of August brought a turnaround. The vines recovered and the grapes were able to mature further – more slowly, but with renewed vigour.

The harvest promises a good grape yield overall. We expect slightly less concentrated wines with more moderate alcohol levels. We have already celebrated our

   
first successes: the Sauvignon blanc and Grechetto (for Luna a Vallocaia) have been picked and are yielding great results, and the Merlot (for Ardore and Antenata) is also at its finest. With the Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Canaiolo, Colorino, Trebbiano and Malvasia grape varieties yet to be harvested, the most exciting part is still to come. As with all grapes, the last few weeks before the harvest are crucial for the quality of the vintage.

Gastronomy – 03.09.2024
The origin of the name of this typical Tuscan pasta is still disputed to this day. Some say that the name pici comes from the word «appicciare», which means «to stick together» – a perfect description of the hand-rolled pasta. Others suspect that it comes from the Tuscan dialect word «piciare», which means «to knead» or «to pinch», a reference to the traditional preparation technique. Regardless of which origin is correct, one thing is certain: pici are an indispensable part of Tuscan cuisine. Simple, rustic, authentic – just like the recipe from our Ristorante Vallocaia!

> Ristorante Vallocaia

Pici

500 g wheat flour (type 405)
250 ml lukewarm water
10 g extra virgin olive oil - Tenuta Vallocaia
Salt

Ragù

200 g minced pork
200 g minced beef
50 g onions
50 g carrots
50 g celery sticks
100 ml Vino Nobile di Montepulciano - Tenuta Vallocaia
50 ml extra virgin olive oil - Tenuta Vallocaia
1 sprig of rosemary
1 sprig of thyme
1 tin of plum tomatoes 
salt, pink pepper

Pici

• Mix the flour and salt in a bowl.
• Add water and knead to a smooth, soft dough; it should be a little softer than normal pasta dough, otherwise the thick spaghetti-like noodles will take a lot of strength to roll out and shape.
• Wrap the dough in cling film and chill for at least an hour.
• Roll out the dough into a sheet, cut into 4–5 mm wide strips and roll into spaghetti-like strands.
• Cook the pici in a large pot of salted water for about 5 minutes until al dente and drain.

Ragù

• Cut the vegetables into small cubes and sauté them in olive oil.

• Once cooked, remove and set aside.

• Brown the minced meat with olive oil and salt over high heat.

• Deglaze with the red wine.

• Add the vegetables, rosemary, thyme and plum tomatoes and simmer gently for 4–5 hours. Add water as needed.

Mix the pici with the ragù and sprinkle with Parmesan as you like. Buon appetito!

Sustainability – 17.06.2024
Energy is needed for wine production, such as for controlling the temperature during fermentation or ventilating the cellars. We have installed a photovoltaic system on the roof of our winery with a total output of 145 kWp, which we can use to cover all the daytime energy needs of the tenuta from April to September. Our own electricity generation saves around 78,000 kg of CO2 from being released into the environment each year. This is the equivalent of a four-wheel-drive vehicle travelling 400,000 km. The cost of the photovoltaic system will be paid off in seven years.

> read more

Sustainability – 17.06.2024
Our water is heated by the sun: the water circulates through transparent cylinders, heats up and is collected in insulated storage tanks. In this way we can generate hot water – for the entire wine cellar – using no energy at all for a large part of the year.

> read more

Events – 25.04.2024
Tanti Auguri! Tenuta Vallocaia is celebrating its 40th birthday. And that’s more than enough reason to raise a toast. A whole week packed with attractive events: «la settimana Vallocaia» promises exceptional culinary offerings in Zurich and Berne. From the typical Italian afternoon snack known as «la merenda» to top-notch wine tastings and traditional pasta cookery classes. The ultimate in Italianità!
        

• Wednesday, 12 June 2024, 15:30
  «la merenda»
  in the Santa Lucia theatre, Zurich

• Thursday, 13 June 2024, 18:30
  «la tavolata»
  in the Ristorante Vallocaia, Zurich

• Thursday, 13 June 2024, 18:30
  «la tavolata»
  in the Ristorante Verdi, Berne

• Friday, 14 June 2024, 19:00
  «Les Moby Dicks»
  in the Ristorante Bindella, Zurich

• Saturday, 15 June 2024, 15:00
  «la degustazione»
  in the Ristorante Vallocaia, Zurich

• Saturday, 15 June 2024, 15:00
  «la pasta fatta in casa»
  in the Ristorante Zafferano, Zurich

• Saturday, 15 June 2024, 15:00
  «la pasta fatta in casa»
  in the Ristorante Lorenzini, Berne
       

> more information & reservations

Vintage year – 02.04.2024 
Whether we are talking about our houseplant at home or a winemaker and their grapevines: why do we need to apply fertiliser to cultivated vines? We put this question to Giovanni Capuano, estate manager at Tenuta Vallocaia.

Giovanni, can you give us a brief explanation of how a grapevine functions? Grapevines use photosynthesis to get the energy they need to grow: they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and water and minerals from the soil – and use these elements along with sunlight to create sugars and thus build their flowers, leaves, fruits and roots.

Where does the fertiliser come in?
In a natural ecosystem, such as a forest, fruits, leaves and twigs fall to the ground. As a result, the soil recovers the nutrients that the grapevines have taken from it. A closed circle.

And in a vineyard?
In a cultivated field – a vineyard, an olive grove, a vegetable garden – harvesting the crop removes these «natural fertilisers». Over time, a cultivated piece of land loses fertility. That is why you have to apply fertilisers.

How is that done?
There are various options. You can add organic material or minerals to the land under cultivation or apply the fertiliser directly to the grapevines through so-called leaf fertilisation.

At Vallocaia, we use what is known as green manure, which is an indirect way of enriching the soil: in the autumn, we sow field beans, peas and clover between the vines. In May, when these legumes are just about to flower, we plough them in. The roots of the legumes are home to nitrogen-binding bacteria, which are able to absorb nitrogen from the air and pass it on to the vines. In this way, they enrich the soil with nitrogen and organic material.

Is there a standard fertilisation process?
The fertilisation of the vineyards is based on a soil analysis and the vitality of the vines, but also on the desired oenological outcome: a vineyard that produces grapes for long-maturing wines (such as our Vino Nobile Riserva) is treated in a different way than one whose grapes are destined to make young, fragrant white wines (like our Gemella bianco).

Vintage year – 25.03.2024
After the winter pruning, March is the time for tying the vines to the wire framework that supports the vines. Vines are climbers, so they are given a bit of help to climb: this is known as training the vine.

The Guyot system is the most common training system in high-quality European viticulture. Here a shoot that will later bear grapes is bent into an arc and tied to horizontal steel wires. Tying up the vines is a time-consuming and laborious manual process. To speed up the work, at Vallocaia we use manual «tying machines», similar to a stitching machine.

> read more

Events – 14.02.2024
Our winery in Montepulciano may be 700 kilometres away, but we are bringing it to you – with the new «Vini di Vallocaia» wine course in Zurich and Bern. Taste Vino Nobile di Montepulciano from different vineyards, get to know the secret star of our winery and let yourself be seduced by our «international» favourites.

16 October 2024, 18:30
Bindella headquarters, Zurich

15 October 2024, 18:30
Ristorante Verdi, Bern

Vintage year – 12.02.2024
In January and February, we fill more than 50% of the bottles produced each year in our cellar. A complex and delicate process, as a mistake at this stage is irreversible. The 0.75 and 1.5-litre sizes are bottled on a fully automatic bottling line:

1. The machine rinses each bottle with a powerful jet of water, empties it, removes the air and replaces it with an inert gas (we use argon or nitrogen) to prevent oxygen from entering the bottle, which could oxidise the wine.
2. The bottle is filled with wine, a vacuum is created at the same time, then the bottle is sealed.
3. The filled bottles are placed in metal baskets and rest for several months (white wine and rosé) or up to several years (our Vino Nobile di Montepulciano) for refinement.
4.  At the end of this ageing period, when the wine is ready for sale, the bottles are labelled and capsuled, then packed in boxes or wooden crates.

Sustainability – 08.02.2024
The environmental impact of glass – from production and transport through to recycling – is very high. Nowadays there is a trend towards using lightweight bottles. We switched from 750-gram bottles to 600-gram back in the early 2000s, and since 2008 we have only been using 500-gram bottles for our entire production. In this way we have been able to reduce the CO2 emissions for the production and transport of the glass by around one third. Naturally, the weight of the bottle does not have any effect on the quality or the storage life of the wine.

> read more

Vintage year – 30.01.2024
For a winegrower, winter pruning is one of the most important and demanding tasks of the entire year. This involves drastically cutting back the grapevines. But why even bother? In principle, the vine does not produce its grapes to make wine, but to grow seeds and reproduce. If the grapevine were not pruned, it would produce many small grapes with very little pulp (juice). The heavy pruning reduces the yield, but increases the quality (sugar and flavour concentration).

Proper pruning is an art; it requires the ability to observe the vine and understand its growing behaviour. It takes years to learn the craft.

• Good pruning means orienting production towards the desired oenological goal, i.e. the desired quality of the grapes and the wine. Depending on the grape variety, we leave six to ten buds on the vine, from which six to ten grapes develop.
• Good pruning enables the vine to live a long life: every cut is a wound, and if the cuts are not made in the right places, this opens the door to infections that can jeopardise the life of the vine.
• Winter pruning requires around 100 hours of labour per hectare.

Gastronomy – 03.01.2024
For January, our Ristorante Vallocaia in Zurich is delighted to welcome some reinforcements from Italy. Amin Sedrati and Ivan Vasilev normally look after our guests at the Tenuta Vallocaia in Montepulciano. Now they have come to spend a couple of weeks with us in Zurich. Stop by our restaurant in Niederdorf and meet them in person! 

> Ristorante Vallocaia

The «Vallocaia» in Zurich’s Niederdorf district pays homage to the winery of the same name. Here you can enjoy all the Vallocaia wines – accompanied by original, simple Tuscan cuisine.

> more info

The «piccolo paradiso» of the Bindella family in the heart of Tuscany. Their speciality is the superb Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. Definitely one to include in your next trip to Italy!

> discover

A wine paradise is celebrating its 40th birthday! Whether you prefer a wine course, trip or tasting – we invite you to come and celebrate this anniversary with us!

> events

Sustainability – 00.04.2024
Our olive groves have been fully greened, our vineyards at least 50 per cent. Greening means allowing other plants to grow between the olive trees and vines. From an agronomic point of view, this has many advantages, including erosion prevention. Greening also makes sense when it comes to our fuel consumption: it takes far less energy to mow than it does to work the soil.

> read more

Vintage year – 00.06.2024
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Sustainability – 00.06.2024
When choosing our machinery, we look for efficiency: our new tractors use on average 20 per cent less diesel than before. They are also more ergonomic, which is important for the driver.

> read more

Sustainability – 00.00.2024
Dirty water can be purified by means of chemical or organic systems. Since the waste water from our cellars contains virtually no harmful substances, we opted for the organic system of phytodepuration: the waste water is drawn off and fed into a sealed basin containing gravel. The aquatic plants that grow there have bacteria-rich roots which break down the harmful substances. The water from this natural purification system can then safely be released into the river.

> read more

Products – 00.11.2024
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Sustainability – 00.12.2024
When optimising energy usage, compartmentalisation – in other words, the separation of rooms with different heating needs – and thermal insulation are crucial elements. This is why our cellar rooms are separated by corridors and the walls well insulated.

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Vintage year – 00.12.2024
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