In the wine world, a family is considered lucky to have their legacy carried on by descendants, generation after generation, to realize the vision their founding ancestors had for the land they occupy. Other times, uncontrollable events happen, and a family would lose their pride and joy.
While the journey that eventually brought Monica Raspi into wine was not as dramatic, the crossroad she arrived at almost 17 years ago had some similarities. Trained as a veterinarian, she never thought she would take over her family’s vineyard, Pomona, in Castellina in Chianti Classico. Her parents had, through nostalgia and hard work, finally revived parts of the estate after it was abandoned for over 30 years. But their family was once again at risk of losing Pomona if Monica hadn’t decided to take over from her mother in 2007.
Fortunately, Monica did.
The transition was hard and sometimes caused her to doubt herself. But with the guidance of those she worked with, Monica gradually learnt to appreciate the beauty of her work in the vineyard as she transitioned it to become organic, and the satisfaction of producing wines she felt best represented what Pomona’s soils offered.
Grape Collective talks to Monica Raspi about her journey of taking over her family’s legacy and her winemaking approach.
Lee Pai: Monica, can you tell us a little bit about Pomona?
Monica Raspi: My great-grandfather bought the property towards the end of the 19th century. The estate was quite big with 90 hectares of land, and the wines he bottled were quite famous. But during the 1950s when sharecropping ended, my grandmother decided to abandon the estate. It remained abandoned for around 30 years until after she passed away.
It was my father, with support from my mother, who began to replant the vineyard in the 1980s. He always thought that the wines my grandfather made were the best in the world. So, they started with one hectare of vines, and grew it slowly over time (Pomona now has six hectares of vines). In 2007, my mother wanted to retire, and asked if I was interested in taking over. If I didn’t take over Pomona, we would have sold it. I didn’t want to sell my roots, so I decided to sell my veterinary clinic and started this new life.
Prior to this, did you have any experience in wine?
None at all. When I was younger, I really didn't want to talk about Pomona and the wine, because my parents always talked about it. But, when the only other option was to sell Pomona, I realized that I couldn't live without it. I really loved Pomona. I never regret selling my (veterinary) clinic for this, it was the best decision in my life.
I didn’t know anything about winemaking when I started, so I started by studying viticulture, I even bought a textbook. I also worked with my winemaker who taught me what I have to do in the cellar. Then in 2008, I decided that Pomona had to become organic and started to work with an agronomist (Pomona was certified organic in 2012). The agronomist taught me a lot of things, such as how to look at the plants to understand the vineyard’s condition, and how to evaluate the vines' conditions. I was very lucky to have the best people teaching me how to work in the vineyard.
Even with all the help, it was a big transition for me, and the first three years were very difficult. I cried a lot and thought I was not capable. I thought I was making a big mistake. But it all changed in the third year. I honestly think that to truly understand what you have to do in the vineyard, you need three years. During the three years, you go through the cycle of pruning, growing the grapes, harvesting, producing wine, and pruning again, that's the cycle. Therefore, in the third year as you are in the cellar tasting and seeing people enjoying your wine, you realize that the wines were produced by the grapes you grew two years ago (Pomona’s Chianti Classico Annata and Riserva wines are aged for approximately 19 months and 30 months, respectively, before release).
Another aspect I appreciated was that I got to work outside in the vineyards, in the silence with the animals, it's almost like yoga.
What about Pomona do you feel makes it special?
Our soil is very interesting because we have three blocks of vineyards (each vineyard is around two hectares), two in Castellina UGA and one in Vagliagli UGA. In Castellina, we have the Little Man vineyard, planted by my father in the 1980s, which produces our single vineyard Chianti Classico Riserva, our most premium wine. The soil consists of clay and a lot of calcareous marl. We also have the Sant’Ilario vineyard, planted in 2004, its soil appears more red due to higher amount of iron, as well as calcareous marl content. In Vagliagli, we have the Termine vineyard, planted in 2014, whose soil appears yellow since it is more sandy with a lot of stones and calcareous.
Although the three vineyards are quite close to each other, the resulting wines are completely different, which is so interesting to us. We do everything the same, the grapes are all the same (primarily Sangiovese).
Can you also share with us some of your vineyard management and philosophy?
All our vineyards are covered with herbs, which are very important for water retention. With the changing climate, whenever we do get rain, the herbs help retain water, and its roots give life and oxygen to the soil. Then, in the summer, the herbs and leaves are cut and left on the ground to become dry cover crop. This helps maintain humidity and lower the soils’ temperature. I believe this brings life to the soil; our soil is rich with life, which gives our grapes the flavor for the wines.
I also believe nature always knows what is best for the vines. We never conduct topping, which is a canopy management method of constantly cutting the highest parts of the vines. I don’t believe in a perfectly manicured vineyard, it’s more important to let the leaves grow naturally, which allows the vines to concentrate on growing grapes rather than trying to regrow its leaves. Of course, you still have to work hard to prune and manage the vines. For example, since we are organic and can’t spray any chemicals, in September it rains, we cut the leaves under the grapes to maintain good ventilation.
We are quite proud of what we have achieved as we followed the progress of the vineyards. For example, it was really hot in 2017, and the woods surrounding the vineyards were completely brown. The vineyards however, were green. Maybe the vines found water somewhere very deep and weren't too stressed by the hot temperature.
Aside from the climate, which obviously has changed a lot, what has been your biggest learning since taking over Pomona?
My agronomist taught me to constantly observe and understand what is going on in the vineyards. If you understand what is happening, you will know what you have to do. It’s challenging, because everyday is different, every season is different. Over the different seasons with the changing climate, we have to make different decisions to adapt. In the past, I was very worried about our vines' longevity. But I think now that we may have found a good way to work in the vineyard that allows us to continue to produce good wine.
Can you talk about the different lines of wines you produce?
Our entry level wine is the 100% Sangiovese Pierro Rosso, it is made in stainless steel tanks to preserve the fruit character and freshness.
Then, our Chianti Classico [Annata], was traditionally a blend of wines produced from the Sant'Ilario and Termine vineyards. In 2022, we started to separate the best grapes from the two vineyards to try to showcase the different expressions. In Sant’Ilario, there is a small amount of Colorino planted by my mother, so the Chianti Classico incorporates 1-2% of Colorino that adds peppery flavor and tannin structure.
Finally, our Chianti Classico Riserva, is our single vineyard wine produced from the Little Man vineyard. I’m very fond of this because it was my father who planted the vines. Although it is labeled a Riserva, it effectively is a Gran Selezione because how long we age it before releasing (The Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico requires the Riserva wines to be aged for a minimum of 24 months before release, 30 months for Gran Selezione wines).
I have never heard of Colorino before.
It's an ancient grape variety that is not really used. It was used to add color to the wines in the past when Chianti Classico used to allow white grapes for wine. It was my mother who planted them, I don't exactly know why, but I don't want to remove them because the vines are 20 years old, so we use them.
What are your thoughts on the UGA system that tries to further subdivide Chianti Classico?
My Riserva is already a single vineyard wine, but I think specific UGA could be more important for Chianti Classico Annata (the entry level Chianti Classico wine), because you could actually learn where the vineyards are. Most people don’t know which vineyards the Annata wines are from, so I think it's more interesting for the people that would like to taste and learn about it.
I understand your son works with you at Pomona as well?
Yes, Pomona it's very family run. I am very happy because he is an agronomist, I am not. So he works with our agronomist that is responsible for managing the vineyard organically. It’s a wonderful thing for my son to be interested in my work and in Pomona.
(Monica, right, and her son Cosimo, left)
