Among the rolling hills below the hilltop town of Montepulciano sits a modest wine estate with ambitions to become a wine resort. Relais Villa Grazianella is the main residence and wine hotel, where guests can take a cooking class, lounge by the pool, stay for dinner and book a tasting in the cellar. But the grounds are vast, some 600 hectares, 180 of them under vine, and there is much more potential here.
The estate is dotted with derelict farmhouses. For generations, Italian vineyards employed farmers to manage individual sections of vines, housing them and their families on the land as part of their compensation. Between the 1960s and the 1980s most estates, Villa Grazianella among them, moved away from this system of tenant farming, and the houses were left to fall into ruin.
From ruins to villas
Work is now under way to restore those buildings as apartments and villas spread across the estate, and the first new villa, set among the vines, is already bookable. With the main hotel, its restaurant and pool at the center, Villa Grazianella is on its way to becoming a true Tuscan wine resort. A small chapel on the grounds makes it a natural fit for weddings.
Cypress trees trace the ridgelines and Montepulciano crowns the hill above. Add the wine and the food, and the appeal is obvious. Executive chef Stefano Azzi regularly opens his kitchen to give guests a lesson in Tuscan cooking.
“On the table we want to enhance the authentic soul of the territory,” says Azzi, “presenting studied and balanced dishes, characterized by a perfect balance between tradition and innovation. We revisit the specialties of Tuscan cuisine inspired by recipes of the past, without exceeding in gourmet ornaments and favoring locally produced ingredients, selected according to seasonality.”
Classes run year-round, with the estate’s wines on the table throughout. “There are some typical products that know no season,” Azzi says. “I am thinking of pici with aglione or Chianina sauce, but also peposo, to be combined with local labels of our production, to give guests an even more immersive and genuine experience in the excellence of Tuscan taste.”
In the vineyard
You can walk the vines if you have time, but the full vineyard tour is done by car, with stops to see the vines up close and to taste. The wines are mostly red, including Chianti and a few chillable reds, alongside the Montepulciano classics: an everyday Rosso, a Vino Nobile and a richer Riserva. A shop in the hotel reception sells bottles at surprisingly reasonable prices.
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