In 1964, Alibrando Dei, Maria Caterina's grandfather, bought the first part of the entire estate : Bossona. This vineyard is gorgeous for exposition and kind of soil, a sort of amphitheater always where the wind blows with a certain constancy.
And her grandfather planted there the vines, that today produce the so famous Nobile di Montepulciano Riserva Bossona.
Later he bough another "slice" of land called Martiena in 1973. At that time it was 20ha all around the marvelous main villa, restored during the 30's by the architect Piacentini. Villa is just outside Montepulciano, surrounded by a very nice park with old cypress trees and magnolias.
At the beginning the family considered this estate as their house for the holidays. Maria Caterina remembers her childhood, when in summer she moved to the countryside when she could play in freedom after a long winter spent at school.
The first years the Dei sell the grapes only later the family decided to try the way of vinification together with the possibility of becoming wine producers. So in 1985 they rent an ancient wine cellar in Montepulciano and, without any technical assistance they bottled the first Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Dei. Another important year for this estate has been 1989, when Galileo Dei, Maria Caterina's father, started to build the wine cellar, a modern and practical (functional) wine cellar, close to the villa and surrounded by the vineyards.
Starting from 1991 Maria Caterina quitted her career of singer and actress to dedicate her time to her land and her vineyards.
Her passion for art in general and music in particular is always alive. "I think that between music and wine there are common elements, in both these
The Dei estate covers an area of 100 ha, 38 of which are given over to the production of grapes. Of these 38 hectars, 31 produces grapes for Vino Nobile.
The altitude is about 300 metres above sea level. The estate is divided into 4 vineyards: Bossona, Martiena, La Ciarliana and La Piaggia perfectperfect for the production of Vino Nobile thanks to the quality of their soil and the kind of their exposition. The soil of the vineyards where the Nobile grapes grow has different characteristics: in Martiena is medium-textured, while in Bossona it is tufaceous, slimy and quite barren. In the last one we produce our most important cru. Our training method is the classic system of horizontal spurred cordons. The planting density in our vineyards is 4.700 plants. Our wine is an important combination between classic and modern style. We produce our Vino Nobile by using the native grapes of this region. At the same time we allotted a small area to experimental cultivar. Shoot thinning and a selective pruning of grape bunches means that production is limited to an average of 50 quintals of grapes per hectare.
The oenologist Nicolò d'Aflitto oversees all the various phases of the vinification process. We produce about 60,000 bottles of Nobile di Montepulciano, 20,000 bottles of Nobile Riserva (only in the best years), 40,000 bottles of Rosso di Montepulciano and an extremely limited quantity of a special blend, Sancta Catharina. The estate also produces extra virgin olive oil from its own olives groves.
The main aims of the Dei are to produce wines whose characteristics represent its terroir and to promote the high quality of Vino Nobile and the original grape varieties of the region which give their wines the very distinct characteristics.