When "newcomers" fall in love with an area, it can happen that they not only stay but also put more love into their products and pay much more attention to quality than the locals themselves. This is quite common in Tuscany. When two quality lovers meet and run a winery together, then magnificent wines are the result.
The Austrian entrepreneur Karl Egger and his family fell in love with a wonderful piece of land in southern Tuscany near Radda in Chianti and acquired an old estate there. Actually, it is even a hamlet with a chapel, so a small village, one could say, because that is what Castiglioni means in Italian. Its history dates back to the year 1078. At that time, the monks of the nearby Badia a Coltibuono monastery founded this estate, which in recent years has been lovingly restored and reactivated step by step by the Eggers. It includes around 100 hectares of land. Most of it is forested, but there are also about 20 ha of vineyards and about 10 ha of olive groves, which have been cultivated since 2012.
Sean O'Callaghan – affectionately called "Il Guercio" by his friends, which could be freely translated as "the one-eyed rascal" – is actually English and was born in Sri Lanka, where his family ran tea plantations. Back in England, his father planted vines near Somerset and sent Sean to Germany, where he studied viticulture in Geisenheim and then – instead of taking over the vineyard in England – stayed there and became cellar master at the Diel winery, among others. On a vacation in Italy, he met John Dunkley, the owner of Riecine, a pioneer in Chianti Classico, and its oenologist Sergio Manetti (Montevertine – Le Pergole Torte), got the job as winemaker, and stayed there for almost a quarter of a century until he met Karl Egger.
Karl Egger gave Sean O'Callaghan the opportunity to build the Tenuta di Carleone winery, giving him free rein in winemaking and allowing him to redesign the cellar. From stainless steel to wooden fermentation racks, oak barrels in various sizes, to modern cement tanks like those in the most expensive Bordeaux cellars – Sean can vinify each individual plot exactly as he sees fit. The new wine cellar is a substantial 600 square meters, with constant temperature and humidity. Concrete and stainless steel tanks as well as wooden barrels for fermentation are available, along with oak aging barrels in various sizes. Sean O'Callaghan sums up the perfect cellar conditions as follows: "To get the best out of the excellent quality of the grapes, processing, aging, and storage of the wines are enormously important – and we have them now more than ever." The cultivation is organic-biological, partially biodynamic, and fermentation is done only with native yeasts and spontaneously. Long skin contact and slow fermentation, sometimes with whole clusters, make the difference.
The vineyards around Radda, extending to Gaiole, are among the best in Chianti Classico. This forested, mountainous landscape is somewhat cooler and always swept by fresh breezes. Some vineyards reach up to nearly 700 meters above sea level. During the day, onshore winds blow from the sea, and at night, winds from the mountains pick up and cool the vines. This interplay brings juicy, pronounced fruit, and the sparse, calcareous soils allow the vines to root deeply, bringing elegance and mineral notes to the wines. Sean O'Callaghan's wines are often described as Burgundian. They are always elegant and finely structured. The result of his passionate work is not only enjoyable but also impressive to see.
