San Felice is an old hamlet in Castelnuovo Berardenga, in Chianti Classico, a few minutes from Siena. It's first recorded in 714, as San Felice in Avana, in a dispute between the bishops of Arezzo and Siena over the parish churches of the area, and finds on the estate go back to the Etruscans. The hamlet is now a hotel, and the winery's cellars are 18th century rooms cut into the limestone.
The Chianti Classico estate has 150 hectares of vines at around 400 metres. Winemaker Leonardo Bellaccini split it into five zones by soil and planted each with the grapes that suit it. San Felice first made Vigorello in 1968, and it calls it the first Supertuscan.
The company also owns Campogiovanni, 23 hectares on the south-western side of Montalcino, and 15 hectares in Bolgheri. All of its wine comes from its own grapes, about a million bottles a year.
Not tasted yet
I haven't reviewed a wine from San Felice yet. They're on my Top 100 list, which is built from awards.