(Arturo Marescalchi – Wine expert)

This brief introduction lets you understand the way the Fratelli Urbani farm has produced wine since 1896 when Massimo Urbani purchased the farm properties situated in Gattaiola near to Lucca.

Massimo Urbani was born in Gattaiola, went to South Africa where he was a farmer and, when coming back home, began to transform his farm into a model farm concerning the agricultural production. He became one of the first farmers who bottled wine in the province of Lucca.

After the First World War, his son Angelo managed the farm to bring the farm to very good levels of production – both in quantity and quality. The Second World War years broke off this positive trend, and situation only changed when Giuliano and Elio Urbani became the owners of the farm in the mid-50s. They modernized the farm, both in respect of the machinery and the agricultural production methods. However, the real revolution was concerning the selection of wine. Giuliano and Elio were perhaps the first in Lucca who produced ‘monovitigno’ wines, wines from a single type of grapes.

Also today, the Fratelli Urbani farm continues to work according to the traditional knowledge, which has been handed over from father to son through generations. This knowledge is based on experience, but above all on the passion and love for the work. The history of a bottle of wine begins when planting the vineyard and continues until the first fruits ripen. It goes forward year after year with pruning, fertilizing and all the other activities necessary for come to a successful harvest. The harvesting is done manually, quality by quality, for the production of the ‘monovitigno’ wines. After the harvest, the grape most is fermented and the wine ages in the chestnut barrels, barrique or stainless steel barrels (depending on the type of wine) up to three years before being bottled for final refinement.