Today Melini owns 556 hectares in the Chianti and Chianti Classico district.
On this splendid estate, farms with famous names such as Granaio, San Lorenzo, Bonorli, Coltri and Poggio a’ Rosi can be found. Melini has a long tradition dating back to 1705, the year it was founded. This tradition is focused on enhancing and giving distinct character to Chianti Classico, whose history matches with that of the cellar, which was the first to enhace it internationally.
On the hills overlooking Val d’Elsa, Podere San Lorenzo is located on the historical border between Chianti and Chianti Classico, at 330 m a.s.l. inside a majestic natural reserve of cypresses. It is the first estate that you come across along the farm road through the cypress groves.
We have records of Podere San Lorenzo dated as early as the 1300s, when it was the site of a suffragan church under the more important church of Sant’Agnese.
Situated on one of the highest hills, at 360 m a.s.l., PodereGranaio extends between Castellina in Chianti and San Donato in Poggio.
Due to its extension, the village of Granaio has always been the point of reference for the surrounding estates.
The small PodereBonorli, adorned with an ancient spring, is located at 350 m a.s.l. on a hill between BorroCepparello and BorroGranaio.
The Verdians were the last peasant family to live on the estate in the late 1960s.
Surrounded by woods and reachable via a four-kilometre white road, Podere I Coltri is the most remote and wildest of the estates.
An ancient rural settlement, it overlooks the ruins of Cepparello Castle, an outpost destroyed by the Florentines on their return from the battle of Montaperti on 4 September 1260.
Between Podere San Lorenzo and Borgo di Granaio, on the north-east side of a hill at 300 m a.s.l., there is Poggioa’Rosi, the smallest of the estates.
