About Petrolo
Petrolo is a family-owned estate located in the Valdarno di Sopra zone of Tuscany, Italy, owned by the Bazzocchi Sanjust family. The estate is best known for its Galatrona, a single-vineyard Merlot that has gained significant recognition as one of Tuscany's benchmark examples of the variety. Petrolo also produces Torrione, a Sangiovese-based wine, alongside other bottlings from its hillside vineyards near the town of Bucine.
Prices are for take away and shipping. The wine bar serves from its own list.
The winery
About Petrolo
History
Petrolo sits in the Val d'Arno di Sopra, in Tuscany, an area with a long record in fine wine. In 1716 Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, issued an edict that named it as one of four zones recognised for good wine and olive oil. In 1834 the agronomist Giorgio Perrin, then owner of Petrolo, praised Sangiovese and a site called Campo Asciutto, which is today the Boggina vineyard. In the 1940s the estate was acquired by the Bazzocchi family.
The land and the vineyards
The estate has 35 hectares of vines in the Val d'Arno di Sopra appellation, on the south east edge of Chianti Classico, between 250 and 500 metres above sea level. Soils are a loose mix of marl, sandstone and shale, with more clay in the Galatrona vineyard. Planting runs to about 5,500 vines per hectare, with yields kept low, around 20 to 25 hectolitres per hectare.
Each parcel has its own name. Boggina, planted in 1947, grows Sangiovese and Trebbiano. The first Merlot at Galatrona went in the ground in 1990. Campo Lusso is a small plot of Cabernet Sauvignon trained as alberello, and Lecceta has Sangiovese vines over sixty years old.
The wines
The range includes Boggina A, B and C Riserva, Galatrona, Torrione, Torrione Trebbiano, Campo Lusso and San Petrolo. Boggina A is made in amphora. Galatrona is a Merlot, named for Nepo da Galatrona, whom the winemakers call a teacher.
Today
The winery is at Mercatale Valdarno, in the municipality of Bucine, in the province of Arezzo. Besides wine, it offers stays and events at La Villa and other houses on the estate.
- Vineyards (hectares)
- 35
- Main grapes
- Sangiovese, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Trebbiano