Eco-Sustainability

At Il Poggione, where my father and I make wine, we are very concerned about the environment. And it is for this very reason that we implement different practices, especially on the land.

You probably know, or you have probably seen on our website, that Tenuta Il Poggione doesn't have just vineyards but also many other hectares planted to olives and other crops as well as woods. It is very important for us not to focus solely on the vines. We want to maintain our estate the way it has always been, a traditional Tuscan estate in harmony with the environment that surrounds it. In the photo above, you can see one of our oldest vineyards, planted in the 1970s: between every two rows of vines, there is a row of olive trees.

I'd also like to reflect for a moment on our woods. They are populated by numerous wild animals: boar, deer, hare, pheasants, etc., which are allowed to roam freely on our land. It is not rare to find these animals crossing the roads of the estate. We also have lakes on the estate that give us a healthy presence of aquatic birds.

In the lowest part of the estate, along the Orcia River, we are also working to recreate a natural reserve, a "wetlands". It's been there since the 1950s and includes lakes and many different types of plants that allow aquatic birds to stop there during migration, to build their nests, and to reproduce.

For us it is also important to give back as much as possible to the land. For this reason, we treat and use all of the by-products of olive oil and grappa production (the waste pomace) to fertilize our land. Vine shoots, the by-product of pruning, are also used: they are ground and then tilled to give the land another organic substance.

Lastly, it's also important to note that at Tenuta Il Poggione we practice "integrated farming". I will discuss its importance in an upcoming post.

Comments

[Rich]

It's nice to know you follow these methods. I think by looking backwards, you are very forward looking. I'll be interested in learning about integrated farming.