Castello del Terriccio’s Lupicaia is one of Italy’s best red wines, and has laid claim to that title for the better part of thirty years. But the thing I most remember about my first visit to the Castello del Terriccio, so many years ago it almost seems like a lifetime ago (the previous owner, Gian Annibale Rossi di Medelana, was still alive: sadly, he passed away in 2019), was not how good the wines were (and they certainly were), just how immense the place is. Really, you have to go there to fully understand the magnitude, the scale, of the estate. The property is only a few minutes-drive from the Rosignano highway exit, but once you get to the imposing metal gates of the Castello del Terriccio you enter a brave new world. For instance, it is another fifteen minutes at least from the gate before you see any buildings or human life forms again. I have often joked that they should hand people a compass when they enter the estate’s grounds (having a bag with some food in it may also be prudent, just in case anybody gets hopelessly lost). At 1,500 hectares, Castello del Terriccio covers a great deal of land, though the actual hectares under vine are only about seventy, with forty hectares of olive groves; the remaining land is used for cultivation of grains, eucalyptus trees, pasture and raising horses.
