Swiss couple Brigitte and Bruno Widmer, together with daughter Barbara,
run this property better than clockwork. Podere La Brancaia is one of Tuscany’s
leading wine estates, each year winning national and international awards. The
winery is located in the heart of the Chianti Classico zone at Poppi, in Radda
in Chianti, and draws on its own fruit from Poppi and Brancaia in Castellina.
The vineyards have ideal south facing hillside locations at between 230–400
metres, planted to 6,000 vines per hectare on lean, stony, calcareous soil.
Yields are naturally low, giving Barbara great ammunition in the three level
gravity feed winery.
Ilatraia is their new wine, and estate, from
Tuscany's Maremma, established in 1998. The vineyards, 11 kilometres
from the sea and southeast of Grosseto, are planted to Sangiovese, Cabernet,
Petit Verdot and Merlot.