Chiara Condello is arguably the most important grower we work with, and a close friend. Her wines shine a light on the nobility of Sangiovese from Romagna, or more specifically, Sangioveto dal Cannello Piccolo Predappio – Sangiovese di Predappio.

Romagna (to the east) is a hilly region, pinched between the Adriatic Sea and Apennine mountains - quite different from the flat Emilia (to the west). The village of Predappio has a storied history of pedigreed Sangiovese, with wine laws first present in the 1300’s. Sangiovese di Predappio is also the native clone that those in Tuscany spawned from - it has thicker skin and smaller berries than the now more famous Sangiovese Grosso.

Although raised in a winemaking family, Chiara was set for a white collar career in Milan post undergrad. Conflicted, she changed course and moved home to focus on wine. In 2015, she purchased her own vineyards that were planned to be ripped out by a neighbor who saw no future in them - four well situated plots of old vines on a combination of clay and marine rich "spungone" soil.

Chiara is a purist with a deeply thoughtful approach– one of our wine heroes and someone who has reached high levels of notoriety in recent years. She crafts strict wines of the land and vintage inspired by the traditional, “garagiste” wines of her Grandfather, and profound bottles of Sangiovese di Predappio from the 1930’s.

When she initially began, support was sparse - she was told that modernization was needed to re-elevate Predappio’s reputation. Fortunately, Chiara is a leader who possesses the pride and conviction to carve her own path. We have developed strong opinions on the role of people and personality to finished wine. As with Renato Vezza at Bricco Ernesto, Chiara has an energy and emotional intelligence that translates to the wine.

In her words, she makes wine in the “ancient method”, which includes native yeast fermentation in open topped wooden or concrete vats, with long skin maceration and a portion of whole cluster (depending on the wine). No process is forced, ever. Aging occurs in old Slavonian oak tonneau and wines are bottled without fining or filtering.

Chiara regularly makes only two wines—her Sangiovese di Predappio and a single vineyard wine named Le Lucciole (the fireflies). The difference between these two wines is a masterclass in terroir and the site-specific nobility of Sangiovese, driven by the fact that her normale bottling comes from vineyards with mostly clay soil, while Le Lucciole has a very high concentration of Spungole.

In certain years (so far 2018 and 2021), Chiara crafts a wine called Lo Stralisco, from a portion of Le Lucciole. Lo Stralisco is the strictest interpretation of the ancient method - 100% whole cluster fermentation and aging in concrete. It is firmly considered one of Italy's rarest and finest wines.