Elisabetta Fagiuoli on Her 52 Vintages (and Counting)

2 min read

Elisabetta Fagiuoli was on a roll. For more than an hour, the 87-year-old had hosted me and my friend over glasses of wine and plates of rice and roasted venison. We were in a rustic, dimly lit, fire-warmed dining room located above the winery — one of those rooms in Tuscany where a step through the threshold feels like a time warp.

Fagiuoli had a lot to say, but she would occasionally pause to show deference to the baby swallows nesting in the room’s eaves by the window. Their frantic chirping would interrupt us every time their mother returned with food.

“There’s the neighbors,” I commented at one point as their eager cacophony rose up again.

“They are not neighbors,” Fagiuoli corrected. “They are of the house.”

The birds know that Fagiuoli is an ally. For more than 50 years, the dynamo of San Gimignano has protected “The Mountain of Small Nests” — better known as Montenidoli — from hunters, habitat destruction and the ravages of industrial monoculture. Alongside her companion Sergio Muratori, who passed away in 2012, she tended to the property and started a foundation to bring disadvantaged people of all ages to Montenidoli’s forest preserve where they can reconnect with nature through art. Proceeds of the winery’s sales go to support the foundation. It has become Elisabetta Fagiuoli’s mission in life.

Of Montenidoli’s 200 hectares, most is left to pristine, untouched forest. Only 10 hectares are given to olive trees, while 27 hectares are cultivated as vineyards for Sangiovese, Malvasia, Trebbiano, and the local specialty, Vernaccia di San Gimignano. The estate’s wines are bright, forthcoming and approachable, yet capable of remarkable depth and complexity with age.

Now, four courses into the afternoon feast, Fagiuoli only seemed to be gaining speed. “If you want to build the future, you need solid roots!” she exclaimed while digressing from aged Sangiovese to her favorite topic, living a good life. “And purity,” she said, leaning forward and almost whispering, “is the best teacher you can get.”