Our History
Neglected in the past then consistently cultivated according to organic principles by the present owners since 2010, Ribusuoli is a small nature friendly farm dating from the 1800’s now certified organic.
The vineyard is planted with Tuscan varieties of grapes,
including now rare heritage reds, in addition to our precious Brunello grape clones. The ecology and diversity of our land is paramount to us, therefore, among other things we restrict the area under vines and use Regenerative Agriculture methods including grazing our small flock of sheep among the vines and olives!
Sustainable water resources are vital in Tuscany: we harvest rainwater in huge underground cisterns and we do not irrigate our vines or olives (in the past occasionally once after planting the small tender vine roots.) Our winery, in an old agricultural building dating back some
hundred plus years, is eco-renovated using natural materials, such as cork, to bring it up to environmentally friendly standards. We find that naturally grown cork works as well on our walls and ceilings as it does in our bottles!
In our winemaking we use gentle low intervention
winemaking techniques, such as not adding yeast for
fermentation, no enzymes and minimising any added sulfites, following old, peasant, Tuscan traditions. For a proportion of our wines we ferment in old wooden barrels to give our wines a thoroughly natural start in life. Needless to say all our grapes are cared for and picked by hand, with selection in the vineyard for quality. Quantity is secondary and dependant on the climate every year!
People are as important to us as soil and weather on the
farm: apart from Alessandro and Wanda who put all their
care and energies into the farm we have a small permanent workforce, many of whom have been with the farm since it’s inception, who know and care intimately for the land and the life of the farm. Neither ‘volunteering’ (free labour) nor the ‘gig economy’ have any part to play in the life and economy of Ribusuoli farm. Visits to the vineyard and farm are possible by appointment as are farm stay visits, always bearing in mind that this is not a ‘holiday house/village’ but an everyday working farm! If
you would genuinely like to share this with us for a while,
experiencing the ups, and downs, of farm life you would be very welcome.