When "newcomers" fall in love with an area, it can happen that they not only stay but also invest more love into their products and pay much more attention to quality than the locals themselves. This is particularly often observed in Tuscany. When two quality lovers meet and run a winery together, then magnificent wines are produced.
The Austrian entrepreneur Karl Egger and his family fell in love with a wonderful little piece of land in the south of Tuscany near Radda in Chianti and acquired an old estate there. In fact, it is even a hamlet with a chapel, so one could say a small village, because that is what Castiglioni means in Italian. Its history dates back to the year 1078. At that time, the monks of the nearby monastery Badia a Coltibuono founded this estate, which has been lovingly restored and reactivated by the Eggers over the last few years. About 100 hectares of land are included. The majority of it is forested, but there are also about 20 hectares of vineyards and about 10 hectares of olive groves that have been cultivated since 2012.
Sean O'Callaghan – affectionately called "Il Guercio" by his friends, which could be loosely translated as "the one-eyed rascal" – is actually English and was born in Sri Lanka, where his family operated tea plantations. Back in England, his father planted wine 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 other things. During a vacation in Italy, he met John Dunkley, the owner of Riecine, a pioneer in Chianti Classico, and his oenologist Sergio Manetti (Montevertine – Le Pergole Torte), got the job as winemaker, and stayed there for nearly a quarter of a century until he met Karl Egger.
Karl Egger offered Sean O'Callaghan the opportunity to establish the Tenuta di Carleone winery, gave him free rein in winemaking, and allowed him to set up the cellar anew. From stainless steel to wooden fermentation racks, oak barrels in various sizes to modern cement tanks like in the most expensive Bordeaux cellars – Sean can vinify each individual parcel as he sees fit. The new wine cellar is a respectable 600 square meters in size, with constant temperature and humidity. Concrete and stainless steel tanks as well as wooden barrels for fermentation are available, as well as storage barrels made of oak in various sizes. Sean O'Callaghan summarizes the perfect conditions in the cellar 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, fermentation is done only with native yeasts and spontaneously. Long skin contact and slow fermentation, partially with whole grapes, make the difference.
The vineyards around Radda, extending over to Gaiole, are among the best in Chianti Classico. This wooded, mountainous landscape is somewhat cooler and always permeated with a fresh breeze. Some vineyards reach up to nearly 700 meters above sea level. During the day, the onshore winds blow from the sea, and at night the wind from the mountains picks up and cools the vines. This interplay brings a juicy, pronounced fruit, and the barren, calcareous soils allow the vines to root deeply and bring elegance and mineral notes to the wines. The wines of Sean O'Callaghan are often referred to as Burgundian. They are always elegant and finely structured. The result of his passionate work is not only enjoyable but also visually impressive.
