Discover the Salcheto brand: here’s our interview.

Salcheto is a winery that has become a reference point in Tuscany for environmental sustainability and high-quality wines. Founded thirty years ago as a small family business, thanks to the control of energy efficiency of all production processes, it is now a laboratory of technology applied to environmental sustainability and widespread social development. The company philosophy of Salcheto is based on high quality and innovation.

The winery is located in the south-eastern area of the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano denomination, in the province of Siena (here you can find all typical Tuscan products). It takes its name from a small stream that delineates the boundaries of the properties and which, in turn, is named after the willow trees, “salco” in ancient Tuscan, that populate the area and provide the man with the willow branches to bind the vines.

Thanks to Michele Manelli, at the helm of the company since 1997, who personally oversees the work in the vineyard and cellar, Salcheto has established itself as one of the most innovative wineries in the world, particularly concerning environmental sustainability and biodiversity. Salcheto winery boasts important world records related to Carbon and Water Footprint indexing.

To date, the company has a vineyard area that covers about fifty hectares, managed entirely in organic and biodynamic farming since 2009.

We love these realities, these producers of unique, certified, and award-winning delicacies: they are true treasures set in our Peninsula between seas and mountains and in the most remote paths of villages and countryside. We do not just stop at living their products but want to discover more closely the protagonists of this brand. That’s why we sent some questions to those who manage communication with us.

Stay with us to know Salcheto: read the answers!
 

• Who are we talking to?
  I am Michele Manelli, founder and Winemaker of Salcheto.
   
• Is the company family-run? How many generations and from what year exactly?
  The project was born from my initiative over twenty years ago, and the ownership also includes some investors.
   
• In what year was the company founded and who was the founder? What was the founder's background or what was the previous working and professional field if different from the current one?
  Founded in 1984 first as a multicultural farm, I have developed it as a winemaking reality since 1997. My background is in Economic Policy, and I have previous experience in international taxation, but wine has been my entire life so far. 
   
• What is the real reason or triggering factor behind the birth of this company, and when did it happen?
  I fell in love with Tuscany, particularly Montepulciano, as soon as I set foot here in 1994, thinking that I would have to find a way to fulfill my dream of becoming a farmer that I had since I was a child. Imagining doing it in a place suspended in time and space like this and aiming for a great wine seemed like a dream, and that’s how it was. Then the desire to grow and especially to qualify the company with those values of environmental and social ethics that have become the essence of the entrepreneurial project also matured.
   
• What is your relationship with the homeland and its uniqueness? And why do you want to tell it through your products?
  A territory so rich in history as that of Nobile di Montepulciano is an invaluable cultural heritage to draw inspiration from and a great opportunity to build one’s identity. The magic of wine is precisely to be the synthesis of all this; in the glass, we will find the history and identity of the territory and of those who make it.
   
• What was the first product you created?
  The first wine was a Nobile di annata, immediately made from pure Sangiovese, then the Rosso came, and since 1999 we isolated the Salco vineyard to create a cru.
   
• And what is the product that you consider “flagship” today?
  The most important wine is the "cru" of the Salco vineyard, a Nobile di Montepulciano made from pure Sangiovese. 
   
• And what is the product that has most carried the beating heart, philosophy, and soul of the company throughout its history?
  The Nobile Annata, first choice of the youngest vineyards, but above all capable of interpreting so well the idea of elegance, freshness, and fragrance of the wines from Montepulciano.
   
• Let’s talk about today: how much has the company grown since its inception? Can we have some numbers?
  We started with 3 hectares and 15,000 bottles; today there are almost 60 hectares and about 400,000 bottles. A dimension that allows us to be the same artisans as before.
   
• At this moment: more tradition or more innovation?
  Tradition guides us, but innovation is our driving force.
   
• What has been the most important evolution of the company to reach what it is today?
  In the wines, the choice to work with pure Sangiovese but to make it rounder and more appealing. But also having innovated in the winery with our “neo-natural” wines without any additions. Equally important are the achievements in the field of sustainability, such as the first Carbon Footprint calculated in 2009 or the energy-autonomous winery.
   
• Speaking of the future: what tomorrow awaits the company? Is there any planned change or any new evolutionary process?
  We are working to expand both the winery, with new technologies that will combine our innovations in pressure winemaking with the use of wood, and the agritourism.
   
• Are you planning to create new products?
  Yes, but it is still early to talk about it; we are only at the experimental level...
   
• Having focused on Spaghetti & Mandolino, how important is online sales for you, what has been your past relationship with this sales channel, and how do you see it in the future?
  Online was already significant before the pandemic; today it represents a relevant share of our sales channels, estimated at around 15%, and we believe it will grow thanks to content projects like this.

S&M