Avignonesi: The soul of Sangiovese

Avignonesi bottle shots — Three expressions of Sangiovese that explore place, time and vintage as part of Avignonesi’s 300% Sangiovese campaign.

(Image credit: Photo by @cartacarbone, courtesy of Avignonesi)

Published 30 September 2026 In Features

Nobility in wine can mean many things, from aristocratic owners to grandiose chateaux. But its purest form is less obvious. It is about integrity of purpose – of having deep core principles and ensuring they are adhered to throughout every element of the business.

It is about taking the difficult paths not because they are good for PR or for the balance sheet, but, quite simply, because they are right.

This is the nobility of Avignonesi.

Biodynamic, ethical, committed…

Established in Montepulciano, in the east of Tuscany, Avignonesi’s commitment to sustainability in the vineyards was turbocharged in 2009 when Virginie Saverys took over as owner.

Since then the winery has committed itself to the very highest environmental and ethical standards. All its 175ha of vineyards are farmed organically and biodynamically and in 2021 it completed the rigorous process of becoming B Corp certified.

This, in short, is a winery that is run to benefit its workers, its community, the environment – and of course, its customers.

The importance of individuality

Avignonesi is intensely vineyard-driven. The company has spent 15 years studying its Montepulciano vineyards down to the level of individual parcels of vines within its estate. Every year, its 100ha of Sangiovese are separated off into over 60 individual lots, which are picked, vinified and aged separately. Not until all of the wines are aged does any blending take place.

It’s an exceptionally detailed understanding of the nuances of the estate. How every change of slope, aspect, soil composition and water retention affect the personality of the fruit. Sangiovese reflects these changes fantastically well. A grape in its natural environment, in Avignonesi’s organic and biodynamic vineyards it can fully express the individual expressions of its terroir.

Fattoria Le Capezzine. — Fattoria Le Capezzine, Tuscany.

Sangiovese in three wines

The following three wines perfectly capture the knowledge that the Avignonesi team have built up about Sangiovese over the last decade and a half: how it captures a terroir and a vintage and how it ages.

In Grandi Annate IGT Toscana is a blend of grapes from five different estates that totally captures the character of the 2021 vintage. A very dry year, it gave rise to low yields and intensely concentrated grapes that nonetheless retained their freshness and tension. It is a vintage of extraordinary depth and potential.

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG 2016 Late Release shows how Sangiovese can develop over time. From a range of soils across the Montepulciano estates, each plot contributes a different element, to give a balanced, multi-layered wine that is showing glorious complexity ten years after vintage.

Poggetto di Sopra Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG 2022 comes from key blocks within a single vineyard, all on the same clay silt/limestone soil where Sangiovese is at its most expressive. It’s an example of a variety perfectly in tune with its place.

Tasting these three wines is the ultimate exploration of Sangiovese, in the hands of a winery that listens to nature and allows it to express itself with honesty, passion and, yes, nobility.