The history

Two brothers born in Milan with a mother from the town of Vigolzone in the Piacenza Province and a father from Milan. Wanting of follow their father’s footsteps, they were both to become doctors.

But a passion for wine began building in Stefano at the age of seventeen years old. He participated in his first wine tasting classes with the Italian Association of Sommeliers when he turned eighteen in 1978, during an era when the culture of wine in Italy was still in its early stages.

Ferruccio had a real passion for the country life and never really adapted to life in the city.

He purchased two parcels of land adjacent to the house in 1980, one of which also had an old farmhouse for sale named La Tosa, which he bought based on the entire family’s desire to start a farming business as a hobby.

The vineyards had been present in those lands since the 1960s, and the family cared for them on weekends with the help of a nearby farmer.

Finally, in 1984, seemingly from one day to the next, Stefano and Ferruccio decided to transform their hobby into a profession, and to dedicate themselves fulltime to winegrowing.

The family then moved permanently to La Tosa, Stefano enrolled in the Agricultural University of Piacenza, and they began renovating the old farmhouse and building a new wine cellar.

In 1985, the family produced their first wine. At that time the terrain was almost exclusively dedicated to the production of light and sparkling wines, but the brothers committed themselves to exploring what they considered their true vocation, producing deeper, more concentrated wines, almost all still varieties, and continued to expand upon their knowledge of the land and the world of wine in general.

In 1988, Stefano spent an entire year in Franciacorta, at Cà del Bosco with the Zanelli family, working and learning: it was also thanks to this experience that for the very first time in the Piacenza Province that same year, La Tosa implemented techniques including leaf thinning and other vine treatments.

Subsequently, for several years Stefano gained extensive experience in France (Bordeaux, Alsazia, Loira, Borgogna, Linguadoca, and Province), visiting wine cellars and attending courses at the University of Bordeaux and the INRA of Montpellier.

The vineyards

Nineteen hectares of vineyards surrounding the company, thirteen properties and six leased adjacent parcels; all belonging to the same terroir, but with differences from one vineyard to the next and within each single plot. The altitude is about 300 meters to 150 meters.

The philosophy in the vineyard can be summarized as: working to obtain the maximum concentration, complexity, personality and aromatic richness in the grapes, in order to then transfer these qualities to the wine, with maximum respect for the balance and health of nature.