When we started importing Corzano e Paterno’s wines, few wanted to hear about organic farming, wild-yeast fermentations and the delicious, easy-drinking ‘big cask’ style of Chianti that had become so hard to find in those days. After all, this was when most in Tuscany were beholden to the bigger-is-better philosophy peddled by rockstar consultants and US-based advocates. How times have changed! With the dream of restoring the then run-down Corzano farm to its former glory, Florence-based Swiss architect Wendel Gelpke purchased the estate in San Casciano Val di Pesa in 1969. Not long after, he was joined by his sister, Katerina Goldschmidt, thereby uniting the extended family who work and live on this land to this day. As well as ‘mucking in’, each of Wendel and Katerina’s children has found their own role within the broader community of the farm. Tillo Gelpke tends the estate’s herd of Sardinian sheep, whose famous Pecorino cheese is the equal of any on the mainland. His sister Sibilla looks after the estate’s classy agrotourism accommodation, and Arianna, born and raised on the farm, manages the cellar and winemaking. Last but not least, their viticulturist cousin, Aljoscha Goldschmidt, manages the vineyards while overseeing the production of some of the finest Tuscan olive oil money can buy. Everything the Corzano e Paterno farm produces tastes fresh and of the earth, and the estate’s wines keep bringing us back each year. Driven by their own philosophy about authenticity and a sense of place, this family’s current crop of wines sings of the rocky, chalky-clay soils of this part of the Colli Fiorentini while also delivering fabulous drinkability and genuine value. We hope you enjoy the wines as much as we enjoy shipping them.