The winery is located in the municipality of Castellina in Chianti (province of Siena) in the Italian region of
Tuscany. San Leonino is located at the foot of the "Monti del Chianti" hills and was already mentioned in documents in the 11th century. It has been part of the
Chianti region since the 13th century. Since 1993, it has been owned by Società del Gruppo Bertani Domains, which operates six wineries in Italy with a total of 1,600 hectares of land. These are Bertani in Verona, Val di Suga in Montalcino, Trerose in Montepulciano, Puiatti in Romans d'Isonzo, Fazi Battaglia in Castelplanio, and Jesi and San Leonino in Castellina in Chianti. It is managed by Emilio Pedron, with Andrea Lonardi, Marco Ostan and Francesco Basili responsible for the cellar technology. The first Chianti-Classico of the house dates back to 1973 and is still on sale.
The vineyards cover 50 hectares, no grapes are purchased. They are 100%
Sangiovese. Some of the wines are vinified according to the old Tuscan technique known as
Governo, in which a small amount of dried grapes (formerly
Trebbiano varieties, now Sangiovese) is added to the young wine, triggering a second fermentation in 90-hectolitre barrels. The product range includes various DOCG wines
Chianti-Classico, as well as the IGT wine Governo di San Leonino. Among the premium wines are "Al Limite - Chianti-Classico", which after a temperature-controlled
maceration period of 18 days is aged for 18 months in 30-hectolitre wooden barrels made of Slavonian oak and in cement vats, and "Monsenese - Chianti-Classico Riserva", which after a maceration period of 18 days is also aged for 24 months in 300-litre barriques and then aged in the bottle. Around 250,000 bottles of wine are produced annually, 60,000 of which are produced using the Governo method. About 60% of these are exported, mainly to Germany, England and Canada.
