Untapped Italy: Val d’Orcia, A Tuscan Jewel

Within spitting distance from Tuscany’s Golden Triangle, yet under the radar, Val d’Orcia is an unspoiled territory of beauty and wine.

Thanks to Frances Mayes’ 1996 best-selling memoir, Under the Tuscan Sun, perhaps no Italian region has such a well-developed mind’s eye as Tuscany, that picture-perfect landscape of rolling ochre hills, cypress trees and hill towns.

After the book’s publication and before the coronavirus shut down international travel, you could reliably see throngs of tourists in the “Tuscan Golden Triangle,” anchored by the towns of Montepulciano, Montalcino and Radicofani (Mayes lived farther east in Cortona). Few get off that beaten path, but for those who do, the rewards are great.

That goes for wine lovers, too. No disrespect to Brunello or Chianti, but they’re not the only games in Tuscan town. Lying in full view just beyond the well-trod tourist route, but still under the radar is the Val d’Orcia, a region rich in history, beauty, gastronomy and wine. Locals like to say the landscape is the protagonist here, and they would not be wrong. One of seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Tuscany—and the first rural zone so designated—Orcia is lauded for reflecting “the beauty of well-managed Renaissance agricultural landscapes.”

It does, in fact, boast a diversity of landscapes. At just over 5,700 feet in elevation, Monte Amiata, the largest “lava dome” in the region, is a visual anchor from most vantage points; conical hills rise out of flat chalk plains and fortified hilltop settlements are carved from tufo outcrops. But much of Orcia is defined by deep green valleys, vineyards, and a depth of honest agriculture of which viticulture is a star. 

“We are a small group of farmers who stayed together to work on the DOC,” says Roberto Mascelloni, referring to the designation that elevated Orcia from table wine to a quality level. Owner of the organic Poggio al Vento winery in Castiglione d’Orcia, where he produces Sangiovese-based wines, Mascelloni’s family made tavola wine for local consumption until his first estate bottle in 1996. His 13 hectares (32 acres) include olive groves and an agritourismo, a common business model here: 65% of Orcia wineries have their own restaurant or farmhouse hospitality.

Established on Valentine’s Day in 2000, the Val d’Orcia DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) lies in a valley between the DOCG (Garantita) zones of Brunello di Montalcino to the west and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano to the east. About 153 hectares are under vine with potential for 400 in total. The region produced about 280,000 bottles in 2017, the last year for which numbers are available.

Like its neighbors, Orcia is red-grape driven, relying on Sangiovese in four quality levels. Wines made under the basic Orcia DOC must contain at least 60% of Sangiovese; Orcia Reserve, also 65% of the variety, is aged a minimum of 24 months, of which at least 12 are in oak barrels; Orcia Sangiovese is 90% Sangiovese and its reserve version ages for 30 months, of which at least 24 are in oak. The wines have various release dates. IGT wines often include international varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah and don’t follow the DOC rules.

Until 2000, Orcia was an IGT zone of three communes; today its DOC encompasses 12 communes, some of which produce white wines made from Trebbiano. 

Like Mascelloni, before the designation, many producers made locally consumed wines, “The first quality producers were in the mid to late 1990s, so there is no benchmark for profiles and things like ageability,” said Antonio Rovito, who along with Gabriella Giannetti, runs the organic Valdorcia Terre Senesi winery. They, like many others, have been writing the playbook along with the DOC consorzio, a 41-member association formed to set quality standards and promote the region and wines.

Also in that 90s wave of newcomers is Luca Zamperini, who owns the six-hectare, organic Poggio Grande, a century-plus-old farm-turned-winery in 1999. His daughter Giulitta co-manages and also serves as a co-vice-president of the DOC consortium. Beyond establishing standards for the fledgling region, she says the organization must lift Orcia out of the shadow of its more famous neighbors.

“The biggest challenge is to be known outside our territory. The relationship with Montalcino is not easy—it is both a relationship and a clash,” she said. “When you come here and taste, you can see the value of the wines, but in the larger context of the region, [we] get lost. Why should a customer around the world buy a wine from Orcia when they also know Brunello or Chianti?”

But it’s not just fame the producers seek. Finding a distinct identity is another goal says Bruno Terzuoli from Sasso di Sole (cellar established in 1996). “Orcia must be on its own and we should drink it now. If we age it, it will be like Montalcino,” he said. Export manager Lorenzo Moscatteli is more direct: “We are not just dealers,” he says, adding that in some well-known regions, “they are making labels and brands and selling them. That is not us. We are an unusual wine that you have to sell.”

Terzuoli is one of the handful of producers who make wines in both Orcia and Montalcino; consortium President Donatella Cinelli Colombini is another. Both of her estates are woman-operated: Females, she says, “are behind the new wave of Italian wine.”

In Orcia, Colombini owns Fattoria del Colle, an ancestral home in Trequanda dating to 1592. Almost lost to the family and nearly abandoned, she rebuilt it in 1998 as a small compound with vineyards, an olive grove, guest rooms and a cooking school.

“I wanted to collect all the memories of my family to share with guests,” she said. Colombini brought a certain expertise to the project, having served as Siena’s chief of tourism for a decade where she launched wine-focused initiatives.

“Our main opportunity is to provide hospitality in one of the most preserved wine territories in the world,” she said. She is a proponent of individualized experiences, not “fast tourism,” which she says carries no value to or investment in a place. When she started in 1993, only 20 wineries were open for tourism; now that number is close to 25,000. The region sees 1.4 million tourists per year, one million of that come to hike.

Still, at the heart of her enterprise are the wines, which she says “respect the locality.” Aside from her Sangiovese-driven wines, Colombini was an early advocate of Foglia Tonda (translated as “round leaf”), which she wanted to revive as an expression of Orcia.

“Sandwiched between two giants—and it is hard to compete with Brunello—I was thinking about how we could create our own identity,” she said. After nearly two decades of cultivation, she says the variety has finally come into its own in the past four years.

In a region so young, everything is still an experimentation—even with ancient grapes. But there is still room for the occasional maverick, such as Cantina Campotondo in Campiglia d’Orcia, whose winemaker bucked the Trebbiano trend.

“In a land of red wines, my father decided to plant Chardonnay,” said Elena Salviucci who runs the winery with her father, Paolo. “It’s actually a challenge because when you make an international variety, you are exposed to worldwide competition but if you find a way to express your styles, it’s an even better satisfaction.”

DRINK

Poggio al Vento: Orcia DOC, 100% Sangiovese, the family estate wine kicks it old school.

Valdorcia Terre Senesi: Bucaccio Orcia DOC; mouthwatering, savory, easy drinking.

Poggio Grande: “Seterzo,” a 100% Sangiovese signature wine for pizza and light dishes.

Sasso di Sole: Orcia Rosso, tart red fruits, approachable everyday wine.

Fattoria del Colle: Cenerentola, with 25% Foglia Tonda, everything is in sync.

Cantina Campotondo (not imported in the U.S.)