Biography
The most surprising aspect of San Felice is the simple fact that it belongs to a large insurance company, Riunione Adriatica di Sicurtà, better known as RAS, and does not have the charismatic figure of an entrepreneur to represent it. Yet it has succeeded, all the same, to create an important position for itself in the world of quality wine. This is due to an extraordinary person, whose life was unfortunately cut short at a relatively early age, Enzo Morganti, to whom RAS, some thirty years ago, assigned the duties of director of viticultural operations. The enterprise began in 1978 when the historic estate of San Felice, situated just a few miles from Siena in the southeastern part of the Chianti Classico production zone, was purchased by a pharmaceutical company, Aesculapius Kaloderma. Centuries ago the estate was part of the Pieve of San Felice in Avane, and was disputed by the bishops of the cities of Arezzo and Siena as early as the year 714. The property was a large one, some 1500 acres in all, with 350 acres of vineyards which RAS has progressively expanded and amplified with the acquisition of other estates, the neighboring property of Pagliaia, the Campogiovanni estate in Montalcino, and Perolla in the Tuscan Maremma near the city of Grosseto. The inspired and farsighted work of Morganti had already made San Felice a vanguard winemaking estate: ten years previously, in 1968, he had created Vigorello, a barrel-aged red wine produced by native Tuscan grape varieties, principally Sangiovese, a precursor of Super Tuscan wines to come even before the birth of Tignanello. Today Vigorello, which has found its definitive formula, is a blend of Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot, and it is not alone as the top-of-the-line wine of San Felice. It is accompanied, in fact, by two wines produced only in superior vintages: the Poggio Rosso Chianti Classico Riserva, produced from Sangiovese and Colorino, planted on the best-exposed hillside of the estate from which it takes its name, and the Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Il Quercione, which expresses all the potential of Campogiovanni’s leading vineyard site.