Vernaccia di San Gimignano DOCG
ヴェルナッチャ・ディ・サン・ジミニャーノ DOCG
Tuscany's only white DOCG, with a signature almond finish.
About Vernaccia di San Gimignano DOCG
- Producers listed
- 12
Vernaccia di San Gimignano is a prestigious white wine produced in the hills surrounding the medieval hilltop town of San Gimignano in Tuscany. It holds the distinction of being the first Italian wine to receive DOC status in 1966 and was later elevated to DOCG in 1993, making it Tuscany's only white DOCG. Made from a minimum of 85% Vernaccia grapes, this wine is renowned for its crisp acidity, mineral notes, and a characteristic slightly bitter almond finish. The unique terroir, characterized by Pliocene sandy soils, imparts a distinct elegance and longevity, and while most bottlings are fresh and fruity for early drinking, a Riserva style is also produced that develops flint-like mineral and almond nuances with age.
Best for
Ideal for wine enthusiasts seeking a sophisticated, mineral-driven white wine that pairs perfectly with Mediterranean cuisine.
Food Pairings
Pairs excellently with seafood, white meats, vegetable-based risottos, and traditional Tuscan appetizers like crostini or pecorino cheese.
Producers
カッペッラ・サンタンドレア
Cappella Sant'Andrea
Cappella Sant'Andrea is a family-run organic winery in Casale, a hamlet of San Gimignano in Tuscany. The estate traces its roots to 1959, when the property was acquired by the Leoncini family; it is now run by Flavia Del Seta and her winemaker husband Francesco Galgani, who opened a new cellar in 1990. Farming roughly eight hectares of certified organic vineyards, the winery is best known for its Vernaccia di San Gimignano, including a version fermented and aged in terracotta amphorae made in nearby Impruneta, using native yeasts and minimal intervention. The winery's cellar is partly housed in a converted WWII-era bunker, and Cappella Sant'Andrea is a well-known stop on Tuscan wine tours, offering guided tastings paired with local Tuscan cuisine.
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www.cappellasantandrea.it/カザーレ・ファルキーニ
Casale Falchini
Founded in 1964 by Riccardo Falchini, Casale Falchini is a historic estate located less than a kilometer from the medieval walls of San Gimignano, Tuscany. Riccardo, originally from a family of Florentine builders, discovered the property while searching for land in Chianti and planted the estate's first specialized vineyard in 1968. In 1976, on the advice of his close friend, the celebrated enologist Giacomo Tachis, the winery modernized its cellar with cold-fermentation technology, becoming one of the first in the area to do so. About 65% of production is dedicated to Vernaccia di San Gimignano, Italy's first white wine to receive DOCG status, with flagship bottlings such as Vigna a Solatìo and Vigna a Solatìo Riserva. The estate also produces structured reds including the Super Tuscan Paretaio and Campora, alongside Chianti Colli Senesi. Casale Falchini has earned Grand Gold Medals at Vinitaly and continues to export its wines worldwide.
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www.casale-falchini.it/ファットリア・サン・ドナート
Fattoria San Donato
Fattoria San Donato is a historic wine estate and medieval hamlet in the hills south of San Gimignano, Tuscany, owned and run by the Fenzi family since 1932 and now in its fourth generation. The family practices precision organic farming across the entire property, cultivating roughly 20 hectares of vineyard within a larger estate of about 180 hectares that also includes olive groves, orchards, saffron fields and grain crops. Since the 1990s the estate has produced wines under two DOCG designations, Vernaccia di San Gimignano and Chianti Colli Senesi, alongside Vermentino IGT, San Gimignano DOC Rosso, Vinsanto, rosato, spumante, vermouth and grappa — more than a dozen cuvées in total, grown on Pliocene sandy soils at around 400 meters above sea level. The property also operates as an agriturismo, welcoming guests to restored medieval buildings for cellar tours, tastings, farm-to-table dinners and cooking classes.
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sandonato.it/en/ファットリア・ディ・フニャーノ
Fattoria di Fugnano
Fattoria di Fugnano is a family-run estate in the hills of San Gimignano, Tuscany, tracing its roots to a medieval village first documented in 1254. The modern estate was rebuilt from the 1950s by Commendatore Andrea Pensabene, a Sicilian who came to Tuscany to restore the ancient hamlet, and has been run since 1997 by his granddaughter Laura, who left her law studies in Sicily to continue his legacy. Spanning 24 hectares, the estate mainly cultivates Vernaccia and Sangiovese alongside Colorino and international varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah. A member of the Consorzio del Vino Vernaccia di San Gimignano, the estate is considered a benchmark producer of Vernaccia di San Gimignano DOCG, and also makes Chianti Colli Senesi, Toscana IGT reds and rosato, and olive oil. Grapes are harvested by hand with careful bunch selection, and the winery practices cover cropping between rows to protect soil health. The top red and white bottlings, labeled 'Donna Gina', are named in tribute to Laura's grandmother.
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www.fattoriadifugnano.com/en/フラテッリ・ヴァニョーニ
Fratelli Vagnoni
Fratelli Vagnoni is a family-run wine estate founded in 1955 by Sante Vagnoni, perched on a hilltop in the hamlet of Pancole, just outside the medieval town of San Gimignano in Tuscany. The estate began estate-bottling its own wines in 1965 and has been certified organic since 2011. Spanning around 42 hectares — of which roughly 16 to 20 are planted to vineyards, with the remainder given over to olive groves, orchards and woodland — the property is still run by the Vagnoni family. Their flagship wine is Vernaccia di San Gimignano DOCG, including the barrique-aged single-vineyard Riserva "I Mocali," alongside Chianti Colli Senesi, the Sangiovese-based red "Sodi Lunghi," and the traditional dessert wine Vinsanto Occhio di Pernice. The estate also welcomes visitors through its on-site agriturismo, guided tastings, and extra-virgin olive oil production.
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www.fratellivagnoni.comグイッチャルディーニ・ストロッツィ
Guicciardini Strozzi
Guicciardini Strozzi is a historic Tuscan estate at Cusona whose origins date back to 994 AD, with winemaking continuing uninterrupted for over a millennium. Based in San Gimignano — a UNESCO World Heritage Site — the estate is widely credited as the birthplace of Vernaccia di San Gimignano, the first Italian wine to receive DOC status (1966) and the first white wine to achieve DOCG status (1993). The estate belongs to the Guicciardini and Strozzi families, two of Florence's most storied noble houses; the Strozzi were historic rivals of the Medici, and the family lineage includes Lisa Gherardini, widely believed to be the model for Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Spanning roughly 530 hectares around the Tenuta di Cusona, the estate has since 1998 expanded production into Maremma (Bolgheri, Scansano, Montemassi) and the island of Pantelleria, now producing more than twenty different wines including Chianti Classico, Chianti, Vernaccia, and Super Tuscan blends. The estate is currently led by Irina Guicciardini Strozzi, who also serves as president of the Vernaccia di San Gimignano consortium.
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www.guicciardinistrozzi.it/enイル・コロンバイオ・ディ・サンタ・キアラ
Il Colombaio di Santa Chiara
Founded in 2002 by the Logi family in San Gimignano, Tuscany, Il Colombaio di Santa Chiara grew out of decades of vine-growing that began when patriarch Mario Logi first worked the family's Sienese hillside land as a boy in the 1950s. His son Alessio Logi, trained in oenology, transformed the estate into a dedicated winery on the grounds of the historic San Donato parish, along the ancient Via Francigena. The 21-hectare property is farmed entirely under certified organic viticulture and is best known for pioneering high-precision expressions of Vernaccia di San Gimignano, the only white DOCG of Tuscany. Guided by Mario Logi's philosophy that wine quality is rooted in the land and can only be revealed, not invented, in the cellar, the estate ages many of its Vernaccia bottlings in cement tanks to preserve grape character, alongside refined Sangiovese-based red wines. Il Colombaio di Santa Chiara was the first producer to earn Gambero Rosso's Tre Bicchieri award for a Vernaccia di San Gimignano and has repeated the honor across multiple vintages and cuvées.
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colombaiosantachiara.it/en/ラ・ラストラ
La Lastra
La Lastra is an organic wine estate in San Gimignano, Tuscany, whose roots trace back to the early 1980s, when a group of friends — Renato Spanu, Christian Betti, Enrico Paternoster and Valerio Zorzi — first became devoted to the vines and countryside around the medieval hilltop town. After a decade of hands-on study and work in the Sienese vineyards, the estate was formally founded in 1994 by Nadia Betti together with her husband Renato Spanu (agronomist), her brother Christian Betti (winemaker), and lifelong friend Enrico Paternoster (enologist). The estate farms roughly 7 hectares of vineyards around San Gimignano plus additional organically certified vineyards and olive groves near Siena (the Marciano estate, added in 2000), producing about 70,000 bottles a year — the majority Vernaccia di San Gimignano DOCG, alongside Chianti Colli Senesi DOCG and Toscana IGT wines from Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Canaiolo. Vineyards sit on Pliocene-era soils rich in clay, limestone and marine fossils, which give the wines their distinctive minerality and ageing potential. Since the outset, La Lastra has practiced low-intervention, organic farming with an emphasis on biodiversity and respect for the land, reflecting the founders' original 1980s vision of sustainable, terroir-driven winemaking; the estate also runs an agritourism and wine-tasting program (Marciano) for visitors.
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www.lalastra.it/モルモライア
Mormoraia
Mormoraia is an organic wine estate set among the hills of San Gimignano, Tuscany, built around a former 18th-century convent. Founded in 1980 when Milanese entrepreneur Giuseppe "Pino" Passoni and his wife Franca acquired the abandoned convent and replanted its surrounding vineyards, the estate opened its first winery in 1995. Since 2012 it has been run by their son Alessandro Passoni, who oversaw full organic conversion (certified since 2013) and the estate's growth into a wine tourism destination. The roughly 100-hectare property includes about 40 hectares of vineyard and 10 hectares of olive groves, producing around ten wines led by Vernaccia di San Gimignano DOCG (Suavis, Ostrea) and Chianti Colli Senesi DOCG (Haurio), alongside a Bordeaux-style blend, a Sangiovese-Merlot-Syrah rosé, and extra virgin olive oil. Mormoraia is also a well-known agriturismo, with 28 guestrooms, a wellness area, a swimming pool, a wine bar (Le Volte), and a restaurant overlooking San Gimignano's medieval towers.
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www.mormoraia.it/ピエトラセレーナ
Pietraserena
Founded in 1966 in Casale, northeast of San Gimignano on the road to Certaldo, Pietraserena began as a 7-hectare holding and has since grown to roughly 40 hectares, about 30 of them under vine. Now run by the Arrigoni family across four generations (the estate is part of the Arrigoni 1913 wine family, historically rooted in Liguria before expanding into Tuscany), the property sits in the heart of the Vernaccia di San Gimignano DOCG zone — home to Italy's first wine ever awarded DOC status, in 1966. Alongside Vernaccia, the estate grows Sangiovese for its Chianti Colli Senesi DOCG and its two flagship crus, Caulio and Poggio al Vento, as well as Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Vermentino Nero for IGT Toscana bottlings, and Malvasia and Trebbiano for a traditional Vin Santo del Chianti DOC. Farming follows the low-intervention approach set out by Bruno Arrigoni, prioritizing the health of the land, the workers and the surrounding environment, with wines fermented using indigenous yeasts and aged largely in large Slavonian oak casks.
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arrigoni1913.it/en/サン・クイリコ
San Quirico
Founded in 1860 when Vincenzo Vecchione first recognized the potential of the San Gimignano terroir, San Quirico is a family-run estate now farmed by the fourth generation of the Vecchione family in the hamlet of Pancole, on the northwestern hills of San Gimignano, Tuscany. The estate began bottling its own wines in 1974 and has been certified organic since 2004, with fully organic winemaking since 2012. Around 30 hectares of vineyards are planted mainly to Vernaccia di San Gimignano, alongside Trebbiano Toscano, Malvasia Bianca, Sangiovese, Merlot, and Syrah, producing wines that range from crisp, mineral Vernaccia di San Gimignano DOCG to structured Chianti Colli Senesi and San Gimignano Rosso reds.
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sanquiricowinery.it/テルッツィ
Teruzzi
Founded in 1974 by Enrico Teruzzi and his wife Carmen Puthod near the medieval hilltop town of San Gimignano, Teruzzi (formerly Teruzzi & Puthod) is the estate most responsible for elevating Vernaccia di San Gimignano from a rustic local wine into Tuscany's only white DOCG. The estate spans roughly 180 hectares outside San Gimignano, with about 60 hectares planted to Vernaccia — the largest single holding of the variety in Tuscany — grown on well-drained Pliocene-era tufa and clay soils that give the wines their signature mineral, saline edge. After a period under Gruppo Campari, the estate was acquired in 2016 by Terra Moretti, which has continued to modernize the winery while preserving its identity as the reference producer for Vernaccia. Teruzzi's flagship Riserva, Sant'Elena, is sourced from a single 3-hectare vineyard in Racciano at 350 meters altitude and aged on fine lees for 15-18 months, showing the variety's aging potential alongside its classic freshness. The estate practices sustainable viticulture, having eliminated chemical fertilizers and weed killers in favor of green manure.
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www.teruzziwine.com/en/home/
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is Vernaccia di San Gimignano a red or white wine?
- Vernaccia di San Gimignano is exclusively a white wine.
- What makes this wine special in Tuscany?
- It is the only white wine in Tuscany to hold the prestigious DOCG classification, and it was the first Italian wine ever to receive DOC status, in 1966.
- What grape variety is used to make it?
- It must be made from a minimum of 85% Vernaccia di San Gimignano grapes, with up to 15% of other authorized non-aromatic white varieties permitted in the blend.
- Can Vernaccia di San Gimignano age well?
- Yes. While most bottlings are fresh and fruity for early drinking, a Riserva style is also produced, developing flint-like mineral notes and deeper almond character with time.