Savignola, whose name has Etruscan origins, was known as a Christian settlement, built around the first half of the seventeenth century.

In 1780 the Fabbri family purchased Savignola, starting wine production in the second half of the 1800s. But the first real success of Savignola was down to the efforts of Paolina, who between the two world wars - initially by assisting her widowed mother and then directly - took charge of the company and created its present name: Savignola Paolina. As Veronelli wrote in an article in "Panorama" in 1974: a proud combination of two names: a cru born of the close bond between land and vine grower.

With the death of Paolina, who was in her nineties, in 1988, her grandson Carlo started to run the company. He was later joined by his daughter Ludovica, who then became the owner in 1998.

Ludovica and her husband Antonio Giordano started a series of company modernisation measures: new vines were planted while other vines which had reached the end of their productive cycle were replaced. The old fermentation and ageing cellars were renovated and a new one built, with controlled temperatures throughout, for the production and storage of bottled wine, thus creating a whole new area in which to continue the production of high quality wines.

The land extends over an area of approximately 8 hectares, with one hectare of olive groves and 6 hectares of vineyards. The main grape grown is Sangiovese, accompanied by other vine species such as Colorino di Toscana, Malvasia Nera and a small amount of merlot used for our IGT wine, "Il Granaio".

Our main goal is originality, localisation and strong product identity.

For this reason, having first studied the climate and land of the company, we chose the vine species which seemed to be most suitable, which allowed us to get the very best out of the territory and which boast high viticultural potential. In the end we opted for indigenous vines such as Sangiovese, Malvasia Nera and Colorino di Toscana.

Despite being more difficult to manage, we preferred late-harvest vines since their slow ripening increases aromatic and polyphenol content, thus intensifying the fruit's original characteristics.

Our territory is quite cool, which guarantees wines with excellent acidity and fresh tannins.

Harvesting time is therefore crucial in order to achieve this aim and so grape picking is organised whenever the grapes are deemed to be at just the right stage of maturation.

Picking is to this day carried out manually and using cases in order to best preserve the grapes until their arrival at the winery.

The average altitude is 330 m above sea level.

The training system is spurred cordon and Guyot.

We have had agronomist Remigio Bordini as our consultant since 1998.

The design and construction of the new cellar and the renovation of the old ones were based on the idea that the post-harvesting process is fundamental for the preservation of the unique characteristics of the grapes.

Savignola Paolina produces approximately 45,000 bottles a year of: Chianti Classico Annata, Chianti Classico Riserva, "Il Granaio" IGT di Toscana and Rosso di Savignola IGT di Toscana.

The different types of grapes, and the different fields, are allowed to ferment and age separately. After soft pressing, fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks at the controlled temperature of 25-26°C, followed by maceration on the skins for approximately 10-12 days.

Thanks to high-tech winery equipment, each tank can also be heated by way of special insulation jackets, so that once maceration has been completed the wine can start malolactic fermentation and therefore wines which are ageing can be put into wooden barrels by the second half of November.

Our consultant is oenologist Lorenzo Landi.