Borgo San Lorenzo, Tuscany

A decade ago Anna and Leonardo Gabellini took the plunge, a truly courageous leap of faith and literally bought the farm. At that point this tiny 3 hectare piece of land was owned by a local baker, and in foreclosure, with apartment complex developers laying in wait to pounce. They took a chance to bid on it and change their lives forever, embracing a life lived off the land and one directed towards their local community of Borgo San Lorenzo in the Mugello of northern Tuscany, just north of Florence.

Their vision lead to converting their land to a fully biodynamic, regenerative poly-culture farm where they grow vegetables, rare native fruits and grains, raise chickens and sell direct to consumers at their tiny farm stand.

Of course wine is part of the deep rooted food tradition all over Italy, but Tuscany is particularly attached to this concept. In 2016 Anna and Leo rented a small, abandoned 0.5 ha parcel of vines about 5 km from the veggie farm and began making wine in Leo’s fathers garage. Leo then traveled across the world as far as Australia, cutting his teeth at some important wineries and honing his craft. The scale to this day is minuscule and 90% of the wine is sold locally at the farm, but, they have a bigger vision - they want the world to see their wines and their work.

As is not uncommon with the vineyards of Tuscany, the plantings are a mixture of native and a small amount of French varieties. Native vines of Sangiovese, Canaiolo, Trebbiano, Malvasia and the like are interspersed with some Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. The soils range from rocky, decomposed alluvial soil to silty, sandy soil depending on location. The majority of the fruit comes from 50-60 year old vines.

When we first met Leo, Anna and their son Emilio, we were immediately drawn in…these were humble, hard working people with no pretense. They are simply willing to do the hard work and quietly share it with their neighbors (“orto del vicino” literally means “the neighbor’s garden”). They wear their hearts on their sleeves and show the generous, gregarious nature of the true Artigiano-Toscano.