Fattoria Sardi turns 100: a century of winemaking in the Lucca Hills.

Fattoria Sardi celebrates one hundred years of winemaking in 2026. It was in 1926 that the estate, just outside Lucca, established itself for the quality of its wines, becoming a benchmark for viticulture in the area. Today, it is run by Matteo Giustiniani and his wife Mina Samouti , both oenologists.

These lands have belonged to the Sardi family for over two centuries and have always been passed down through inheritance. In the 1920s, the villa was the home of Giovanni "Gianni" Sardi and his wife Maria Antonella Mazzei, known as Tottò, who at the end of the decade redesigned the garden according to the "calculated disorder" of flowers and plants in the English style. In 1928, their daughter Maria Adelaide was born, who married Sebastiano Giustiniani : with her, the lands passed to the Giustinianis, while the name Fattoria Sardi preserves the memory of the family.

More than fifty years ago, Matteo's grandfather, Sebastiano, planted new vineyards and in the 1980s began restoring the historic villa-farmhouse. It was beside him, among the rows, that his grandson spent his adolescence, and Sebastiano , a red Colline Lucchesi DOC made from Sangiovese, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon, is dedicated to him. In 2002, Countess Maria Adelaide left the winery to Jacopo and Matteo. After studying oenology in Florence and then in Bordeaux, where he met Mina, Matteo returned to Lucca with her in 2012 to take over the reins.

The centenary comes at the end of a long process of renewal . In 2006, the company adopted integrated farming, and in 2011 it achieved organic certification, and with it, the choice of biodynamic farming . Today, Fattoria Sardi is also certified by Biodynamic Farmers of the World ( BDFarmers ), the recognition reserved for those who apply the method with rigor and awareness.

" When you're fortunate, as a family, to be the ' custodians ' of a piece of land for generations, it's natural to look to the future rather than the past ," says Matteo Giustiniani . " For us, the future means leaving future generations better soils and people than those we've found or encountered. Hence the choice to cultivate the soil and the people, and through them, the plants. Biodynamics is a great help to us in this ." It's an idea that has deep family roots: Gianni Sardi , Matteo's great-grandfather, used to tell his grandchildren that " every privilege must correspond to an additional duty, towards others and towards oneself ."

The estate today extends over 45 hectares between the Apennines and the Tyrrhenian Sea , between the Freddana and Serchio rivers. Of these, 18 hectares are vineyards ; the remainder is woodland , arable land , and olive groves . The variety of soils, altitudes, and exposures creates a rich microclimatic diversity, the same one that made the estate's wines famous a century ago.

The grapes grown include Vermentino , Trebbiano , Sangiovese , Syrah , Merlot , and Cabernet Sauvignon , producing approximately 160,000 bottles annually . Their flagship project is rosé. In addition to wine, the company produces oil, wildflower and acacia honey, and apple juice. Donkeys, chickens, and bees live on the farm.

Since 2021, the farm has been home to Il Ristoro , a farm-to-table restaurant project led by chef Damiano Donati . The cuisine is seasonal, plant-based, and zero-waste, using ingredients from the farm and local producers in the LuccaBioDinamica network. The wine list features organic and biodynamic labels.

The hospitality completes the experience: seven apartments with swimming pools created from the ancient 18th-century farming hamlet, Podere Orfanello , renovated in 2005 and renovated in 2022; the 19th-century Villa Renaissance , renovated in 2005 and renovated in 2019 with 9 bedrooms and a facade overlooking the Italian garden, the vineyards and the ancient family chapel; and the recently renovated Casa Sardi , a 6-bedroom villa in Tuscan style.