Cantina Petra

WHO WE ARE

A strong sign in the land of Maremma which has its origins in a dream inspired by light and beauty. Petra is the two-hundred-year-old invisible thread that binds the sensitivity of two women with a common passion in love with this land: Elisa Bonaparte, Napoleon’s sister, and Francesca Moretti and wine. Where the Maremma opens up between the metal hills and the blue of the Tyrrhenian Sea they have given substance to their dreams. Elisa brought French vines, such as Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, to this territory with an important agricultural and wine project, Francesca inspired by the colours and shapes of a bristly and welcoming land, at the same time she strongly felt the vocation to continue the project of the Grand Duchess of Tuscany. During a trip with her father Vittorio among vineyards and Chateaux d’Olralpe, Francesca s in her studies of agriculture and oenology a way to her future. Her goal was that magical hill that overlooks Suvereto from San Lorenzo. Francesca Moretti likes to remember that Petra is “a female company where wine is produced with sensitivity and pragmatism”. Why Suvereto? Here the Etruscans and Greeks made wine in amphoras because they had already understood that the Val di Cornia was a marvellous and complex reality made up of different landscapes and microclimates that express harmony and balance. The Petra project is based on organic agricultural practices that respect the nature of a delicate environment through the cultivation and transformation of the grapes without force to get an authentic, elegant wine, faithful to the scents and essences of this territory and the Mediterranean scrub.

The dream of identifying with a strong sign has found its fulfilment in the cellar designed by Mario Botta which translates the spirit of Francesca and Vittorio’s project. The Swiss architect defines it as “a rational design that highlights the measurements, the beauty, the depth of the landscape”. The cylindrical central body follows the slope of the hill and is functional to the vinification that takes place by dropping the grapes into the maceration and fermentation tanks. Petra is a cathedral where lights, shadows and silences dissolve all temporal references and give the space the solemnity of a place where the encounter between the industriousness of man and nature is celebrated. Aisles and galleries smell of barriques and Slavonian oak barrels and it seems to listen to the breath of wine. The soul of the cellar is a journey into the depths that ends where Petra merges with the stone body of the Metalliferous Hills: the gallery is a journey marked by slow steps and endless barriques up to the wooden Rivadossi Altar, that invites visitors to encounter and reflection.

Two lines of wines are produced: Petra Wines that synthesize the variety and multiplicity of the soils and the work of man between innovation and tradition; and the Belvento wines inspired by the maritime identity and wild spirit of the Maremma land.

TIPS FROM THE PRODUCER

VISITS AND TASTINGS

ACCOMODATION

WHERE WE ARE