The ancient hamlet ofl Fiano, known originally as Alfiano because it belonged to the noble Florentine family of the Alfani, is perched on a ridge that forms the watershed between two valleys, the Valdelsa and the Valdipesa. The Fiano estate, la Fattoria di Fiano, has belonged to the Bing family since 1940. That estate--its chapel, the villa with its stables, the olive press, the wine cellars along with the other farm buildings, surrounded by its vineyards and olive trees--is located on the edge of Fiano, on the way to nearby Certaldo. Geometrically-precise rows of trees checker the flow of these rolling lands, their march interrupted and softened by remains of past ages, by ancient farmsteads, stray cypresses, sinuous white roads, and Romanesque country churches.
The observant traveler who pauses here, struck by the loveliness of this landscape, may grasp something of the soul of this territory: lands destined by their exposure, climate, and geological origins to bring forth only the highest quality, fields which seem to work together with the vineyardist, aware that only synergies of ancient knowledge and modern techniques, of the ear tuned to ancient voices and the eye fixed clearly on the present are capable of results that answer ever-welling hopes.
As seen from our Poggio ai Monti vineyard, the individual parcels that make up our 65 hectare (160 acres) estate spead out, fan-like, from east to west. In fact, at an altitude of 330 meters (1,082 ft.), this is an ideal observation point, where one's gaze can take in the entire Valdelsa area and beyond--on clear, wind-swept winter days, from the snow-clad peaks of Abetone and Monte Cimone down to Gimignano's forest of medieval towers and still further south to the steam-laden fumaroles of Siena's Colline Metallifere, or from the slopes of Monte Amiata on the south-east right to the northern bulwark of the Apuan Alps, their massive shapes dominating the dusky close of lovely summer days.
At little less than one kilometer from the village of Fiano, fourteen hectares are located in the area of Novoli, where the the Vergignolo flows through a pleasant valley on its way to the river Elsa. The Pliocene formations that created the sub-soils of the area represent three different types of lithology: tufo, or volcanic tuff; mattaione, the typical Tuscan hard-packed clay; and formations of a pebble and coarse sand mixture. The actual soils to which these sub-formations gave rise show a clay-loam/clayey character around Novoli, while on the Fiano estate's 65 hectares, on the other hand, the consistency is in between, predominantly clay, but always with a solid pebbly structure. A careful analysis of structural characteristics of each section led to the identification of specific soils best suited to each grape variety, thus setting in motion a natural synergy for the creation of wines with outstanding and unique personalities.