In the heart of Romagna, where the Apennine mountains meet the Adriatic Sea, a renaissance is taking place in the world of winemaking, and at the forefront of this revival is the remarkable Chiara Condello. Tending to seven hectares of organically grown Sangiovese grapes in the quaint village of Predappio, Chiara embodies a new generation of growers who are breathing life into this historic region.
Born into a family deeply rooted in winemaking, Chiara’s connection to the vineyards dates back to her grandfather’s time, cultivating a passion that would eventually become her life’s work. After achieving her academic pursuits, Chiara found herself drawn back to the family estate, Condé, founded by her father Francesco Condello. It was during the harvest season in 2012 that Chiara realized she couldn’t leave this world behind.
Chiara Condello’s venture into winemaking is a distinct project, separate from the Condé estate, with her inaugural vintage dating back to 2015. Predappio, a region that some experts believe may be the original home of Sangiovese, offers a unique expression of the grape, known locally as Sangioveto dal Cannello Piccolo Predappio. The grapes here have smaller bunches, smaller berries, and thicker skins compared to their counterparts in Chianti Classico and Montalcino. What truly sets Predappio apart are its spungone soils, rich in marine fossils, imparting Chiara’s Sangiovese with a luminous, suave, and spiced character.
Chiara Condello’s winemaking journey unfolds amidst her diverse swaths of land, where around five hectares are dedicated to the Sangiovese grape, and the remaining expanse is adorned with woods and olive trees. It’s a landscape that evokes the very essence of Romagna, a place where scholars propose Sangiovese may have its true origins, challenging the conventional belief that it hails from Tuscany.
Within these rolling hills, Chiara meticulously tends to her Sangiovese vineyards, which sprawl across three distinct. The vines face north/northeast, embracing a diverse array of soils that contribute to the complexity of her wines. One parcel boasts clay-limestone soil, another features red clay rich in spungone—a relatively youthful soil formation of marine shells held together by sandstone. The last parcel combines clay-limestone with veins of spungone. These ancient soils, a mere 3 million years old, cradle vines that have stood resilient for approximately 40 years.
In her viticultural approach, Chiara embraces the harmony of nature. Cover crops flourish between the vines fostering biodiversity, and occasional enrichments of horse manure are thrown in the mix. The result is a living vineyard, where every element intertwines to create a balanced ecosystem.
Chiara produces a few distinct cuvées such as Predappio and Le Lucciole, each bearing the mark of her intrinsic connection to the land. Predappio, often considered her “entry-level” wine, is a captivating expression of Sangiovese. It derives from vines rooted in the heart of Predappio. Le Lucciole, on the other hand, emerges from a single vineyard, reflecting the purest essence of Chiara’s Sangiovese with an almost Burgundian like sensibility.
