In the rolling hills of Gaiole in Chianti, the Chioccioli Altadonna family has reimagined their wine estate as something rather novel: a vinstilleria where the worlds of viticulture and distillation are fused with both flair and reverence. Surrounded by vineyards bathed in the Tuscan sun, the distillery draws spring water from the nearby Fiora source and makes use of casks that once held the family’s own Super Tuscan and Vin Santo wines. The warm days, cool nights, and clay-limestone soils of the Chianti Classico region offer a distinctive sense of place to every drop produced on-site.

The idea took shape in 2018, when Enrico Chioccioli Altadonna returned to his family estate with a rather unconventional vision. Having studied brewing and distillation in Cognac, then inspired by time spent in New York's craft spirits scene, he partnered with his father Stefano and brother Niccolò to launch Winestillery. Together, they became the first to distil spirits in the Chianti Classico region itself, introducing their inaugural whisky, Florentis, to the city of Florence in 2019. The estate continues to operate as both winery and distillery, inviting visitors into a world where wine casks and whisky barrels quietly trade secrets in the cellar.

Locally grown barley, rye, and wheat are malted and fermented in 700-litre terracotta amphorae, allowing wild yeasts and air-borne flora to lend a uniquely Tuscan signature. The wash is distilled in a custom copper pot still designed by Frilli, a renowned Tuscan stillmaker, then matured in ex-wine casks selected from the family’s own cellars. The resulting spirit is delicate yet complex, offering notes of orchard fruit, toasted nut, and soft spice wrapped in a vinous warmth that speaks eloquently of the hills from which it came.