The Olive Oil
We are organic. Organic through and through, in fact: apart from manure, green manure and rainwater straight from the sky, we give our olive trees absolutely nothing.
For a while, we even stopped bothering with organic certification: we wanted to free ourselves from the pollution of paperwork too. We started again in 2019, simply for the pleasure of letting our customers know.
Our olive groves, at around 300 metres above sea level and planted with traditional Tuscan varieties, have in any case been greener than any formal certification could ever convey for more than forty years.
Our extra virgin olive oil is the result of pure rural craftsmanship: pruning and harvesting, all done by hand. Then straight to the mill — a continuous-cycle mill, of course. No calculations, no watching the clock, no counting the hours and, least of all, the cost. An economic loss, certainly, but one we accept for the satisfaction of drawing the very best from a unique location, microclimate and terroir, which give this oil its extraordinary aroma and remarkable longevity.
We can take no credit for that, so we can afford to say it openly.
Extra virgin olive oil is, after all, a natural product, and every harvest is shaped by the weather. Spring frosts, summer drought and other climatic vagaries often make us fear the worst — and sometimes, unfortunately, the worst does happen. But somehow we usually manage to produce something.
Nature lends us a hand, giving us an excellent oil: fragrant and beautifully fruity, with plenty of character, just the right touch of bitterness and a gentle peppery finish. Kept in a cool, dark place away from strong odours, it is always at its best enjoyed raw.
We personally oversee every stage, every time. It is hard work, but we like it that way.
For now, we make two.
LA RISALITA
After extensive trials with our Verna heritage wheat, we developed a recipe that brings out the distinctive character of this old Tuscan variety: La Risalita, a refreshing Blonde Ale with a full flavour, pronounced grain aromas and lingering citrus notes.
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la discesa ardita
We followed the same path of experimentation with our blend of heritage durum wheats, this time adding chestnut honey. The result is La Discesa Ardita, an amber Honey Beer with distinctive notes of chestnut honey, myrtle, resin and beeswax, balanced by a pleasantly bitter finish.
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We make our pasta from our own blend of organic heritage durum wheats, grown exclusively on the Monte Sante Marie estate and stone-ground after harvest to produce wholemeal semolina.
The semolina is mixed with cold water, and the pasta is traditionally slow-dried in small ventilated chambers at temperatures that never exceed 43°C at any stage of the process.
Slow drying — between 17 and 30 hours — at low temperatures helps preserve the grain’s sensory qualities, distinctive flavour and ability to hold sauces.
Thanks to the wheat we use and the way it is processed, our pasta retains more of the fibre and minerals naturally present in the grain than conventionally refined pasta.
Available shapes:
- Spaghetti
- Pici
- Nastri
- Tortiglioni
- Fusilli
Other shapes available on request.
Our heritage grains are the result of a long process of recovering and preserving the estate’s own seeds, which we safeguarded for years as custodian farmers. Rather than buying seed, we propagate our own.
STONE MILLING
Before the advent of industrial roller mills, grain was traditionally stone-ground. This is the method we have chosen for our own grains.
Stone milling grinds the whole kernel, retaining the starch, bran and wheat germ. And because the millstones turn slowly, the flour does not overheat, helping to preserve the grain’s nutritional properties.
Our semolina is neither remilled nor sifted.
SINGLE-VARIETY VERNA HERITAGE WHEAT
Verna is an old Tuscan soft wheat variety, once highly prized for its hardiness and later largely abandoned because its yields are considerably lower than those of modern varieties.
It is characterised by a relatively modest protein content of around 12%.
We chose to grow Verna after discovering in the historical archives of the Monte Sante Marie estate that this very wheat was once cultivated here: a traditional Tuscan variety particularly well suited to breadmaking.
Our Verna wheat is stone-ground to produce Type 1 flour and semi-wholemeal Type 2 flour*, available in 1 kg packs.
Ideal for naturally leavened breads, cakes and other baked goods, these flours typically require higher dough hydration and offer intense aromas, distinctive flavour and excellent keeping qualities.
*TYPE 1 AND TYPE 2 FLOUR
Under the Italian flour classification system, flours are graded according to their degree of refinement, from “00”, the most highly refined, through “0”, “1” and “2”, to wholemeal flour.
Unlike modern roller mills, stone mills cannot readily produce highly refined flours such as “00”. Stone milling initially produces wholemeal flour, which can then be progressively refined by sifting out bran and coarser particles through sieves of different grades.
Type 2 flour. Also known as semi-wholemeal flour, Type 2 retains more fibre and wheat germ than Type 1. It combines excellent nutritional qualities with greater ease of use than wholemeal flour, making it particularly well suited to naturally leavened breads.
Type 1 flour. The most refined flour we obtain from stone milling, Type 1 is extremely versatile. Excellent for cakes and other baked goods, it can also be blended with Type 2 or durum wheat flour for bread and pizza.
HERITAGE DURUM WHEAT VARIETIES
When continuing to use Senatore Cappelli would have meant giving up our practice of propagating our own seed (the Senatore Cappelli name can only be used commercially by growers purchasing authorised seed), we chose instead to develop our own blend of heritage durum wheats.
Selected for their adaptability, hardiness and the quality of their semolina, these traditional varieties had largely fallen out of cultivation from the 1960s onwards, progressively replaced by modern, high-yielding varieties bred for intensive farming, with shorter stems and earlier ripening.
Our heritage durum wheat blend is stone-ground to produce wholemeal semolina and flour, available in 1 kg packs.
STORAGE
Our flour and semolina have a shelf life of six months from the milling date.
They are not treated with insecticides or preservatives and should be stored at temperatures no higher than 17–18°C — ideally in the refrigerator or freezer.
The Truffle
Across the estate are unspoilt valleys and waterways where the most precious and mysterious of the earth’s treasures grows: the elusive white truffle.
It is almost a product that is not a product at all: it cannot be cultivated, only found and gathered. All we can do is maintain the conditions in which Tuber magnatum Pico can thrive — a notoriously capricious species, extremely sensitive to anything that disturbs the natural balance of the soil.
Since 2001, the richest truffle-producing areas of the Monte Sante Marie estate, set in a magnificent poplar grove along the Ombrone river, have been officially recognised as managed natural truffle grounds: areas where harvesting is reserved for us, in return for our responsibility to protect and improve the habitat through careful soil and water management and the planting of suitable tree species.
This is where our trusted truffle hunter searches for our truffles and takes guests out to experience the hunt — a ritual in its own right, often ending with a barbecue or picnic on Monte Sante Marie’s “truffle beach”, a little natural beach tucked into a bend in the river.
