FATTORIA LA VIALLA

Fattoria La Vialla

In 1978, the Lo Franco brothers of Fattoria La Vialla first began assembling their dream of an estate. Their vision was to use their lands to produce classic Tuscan wines, pastas, cheeses and fruits in a way that enriched the earth rather than depleted it, and would provide a focus of both culture and employment for their community. To do this, they knit together farmland and woods, while restoring neglected vineyards and renovating derelict stone houses. Organic since the beginning, the estate has grown to 3,459 acres and 150 employees. Never content with their past successes, the brothers have gone way beyond mere organic to biodynamic farming, and have been Demeter certified since 2005. As one of the largest biodynamic farms in Europe, La Vialla has a real shot at being a closed system, an interactive, wholistic entity that is close to self-sustaining in contrast to the chemical-intensive monoculture of the vast proportion of modern agriculture.

The agricultural diversity at La Vialla extends well beyond vineyards, from orange and olive groves, to massive vegetable gardens, and flocks of Sardinian sheep whose milk is used to make pecorino cheese. 200 bee colonies are partners in the venture pollinating every plant that flowers and producing honey that reflects the natural wildness of La Vialla’s lands. Recently, the brothers have used bee pollen from these colonies to isolate indigenous yeast for their wine fermentations. That kind of focus on regenerative agricultural processes shows just how committed they are to working in balance with the land and all of its inhabitants. There are even solar panels, harvesting sunlight itself. La Vialla is one organic whole.

One more thing: in 2023 with the return of VinItaly to post-pandemic vibrancy, Fattoria La Vialla was named Biodynamic Winery of the Year at the fair. Literally thousands of wines were evaluated for this recognition, which was awarded based on the remarkable and consistent high quality of the wines La Vialla showed to say nothing of the estate’s amazing commitment to the most stringent biodynamic practices over all aspects of its wine growing and making.