Petrolo is the definition of a cult winery, with an owner and a story that have helped create its legendary status. While the estate’s benchmark wine, the Merlot cru Galatrona, deservedly receives fireworks in the press and is part of the history of Tuscany’s quality revolution in the late 1980s and 1990s, the winery’s two other standouts, Torrione and Boggina, are an equally thrilling success – Sangiovese from a special and virtually unknown appellation bordering Chianti Classico that today produces wines of distinct regional identity.
Though virtually unknown even in the wine world, the Valdarno di Sopra denomination dates back to the days of the Medici family during the Renaissance, and the area has always been renowned for the winemaking potential of the tiny area of Tuscany near Chianti in which it is located.
In more recent times, Petrolo was bought in the 1940s by Gastone Bazzocchi, who was the first person to begin cultivating high-quality Sangiovese-based wines at the estate, but it is his grandson, Luca Sanjust, who has brought the winery the cult status it enjoys today. An art scholar and successful painter in his own right, Luca decided to change paths in the early 1980s and has dedicated his time and passion to Petrolo ever since.
Petrolo has a remarkable track record of producing some of the finest examples of very different native and non-native varieties in Tuscany. While Galatrona deservedly receives fireworks in the press and is part of the history of Tuscany’s quality revolution in the late 1980s and 1990s, Torrione and Boggina are an equally thrilling success – Sangiovese from a special area that long ago was left just outside Chianti Classico, and today produces wines of distinct regional identity.
