sesti
Giuseppe Sest & his daughter Elisa Sesti
Montalcino
Tuscany - Italy
story…
Giuseppe “Giugi” Sesti came to the wine world in one of the more interesting routes one could. Originally from Venice where he was inspired to study music, art and astronomy in his youth. Eventually following the path of Astronomy for his first profession, a profession he was quite accomplished in and went on to write several books on the subject. In 1975 he and his wife Sarah moved to Tuscany with their family and purchased the abandoned ruins of Castello di Argiano, a small hamlet and castle consisting of around 102 hectares of total land. The castle dates back to the 1200’s and lies just north west of Mount Amiata is part of a chain of castles along the Orcia river that were used as sighting locations for potential invaders.
Here he slowly began clearing the surrounding land and restoring the historical buildings all while raising his four children, working as the vice-director of the local Baroque opera festival and continuing to write books on astronomy. Somehow during this time he also made it a point to visit local wine producers and help his neighbors in the vineyards & cellars of their estates. Though he had always enjoyed wine, it was never a real passion of his but this time spent helping the surrounding properties changed that.
In 1991 he took this growing passion for wine and planted vineyards on the slopes around the castle. For several years his children helped pick and stomp the grapes for their small production, but eventually they all went on to study and work in various other fields. The Sesti’s only daughter, Elisa, however followed in her father’s wine pursuit and as of 1999 she joined the estate full time and has been integral in the estate ever since.
During Giuseppe’s time helping his neighbors he noticed that the best wines came from vineyards that carefully cared for without the use of chemicals. Noting that the use of chemicals skewed the delicate balance in the fruit and wine. It was this experience that influenced his own farming decisions and ideals when he began to cultivate his own vines. Deciding from the onset to work very naturally in both the vineyards and the cellar when it came to producing his own wines.
farming & Philosophy…
Although the Sesti’s hold no official certification, stating that there are no certification that meet the standards of what they find to be important, their farming is done with both organic and biodynamic practices. No chemicals have ever been used in their vineyards.
Given Giuseppe’s previous career in Astronomy you can certainly guess that much of the work is done in relation to different lunar cycles. He is probably more capable of understanding and explaining these correlations and how they can affect a final wine than just about anyone else producing wine with a similar philosophy. This passion for both Astrology and wine perhaps is best showcased in the estates Riserva bottling “Phenomena”, which is only bottled in the best of years. Each bottling is adorned with a unique label depicting a specific astrological event that occurs during that bottled harvest year.
Wine production is as straight forward and traditional as one might expect from an estate working in more natural ways. The fermentations all take place in stainless steel tanks on ambient/native yeasts. The wines all age in large traditional oak botti for extended periods of time. Only their small production of Sauvignon Blanc & Sangiovese Rosato don’t see any oak aging.
Vineyards…
The estate vineyards consist of 13 total hectares of vines, 3 of which were planted just a few years ago at some higher elevation sites on the estate. The majority being planted to Sangiovese and the remainder planted to Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot & Cabernet Sauvignon. The vine age varies from around 15-20 years of age. They also have olive groves, grazing land and a fair amount of ancient forests on the estate.
