Substrate
The Farm of Badia Pozzeveri is located in the area between Florence, Lucca and Pisa, in Northern Tuscany. An area of unmeasurable historical and cultural relevance, but also known worldwide for the quality of its typical products. The Farm covers one hundred sixty hectars – roughly four hundred acres – of plain and lightly undulated terrain. From to the soil composition and the aereal pictures geologists agree on the alluvional origin of the area, known as ”Plain of Lucca”. More specifically, it appears that this piece of land used to belong to a former river bed that emerged during the Pleistocene Era via tecnic abduction. Thus, the soil’s composition varies progressively but significantly every few square kilometers. And so do the Cultures.
The Northern area, on the slopes of the Hill of Montecarlo, lies on sandy topsoil, calcareous and rich of small and medium-sized stones. Clay presence varies greatly in percentage in the three different Vineyard area, while the permeability is always above average. In the south side of the Farm, at the countrary, we have found a lower pH (therefore, higher acidity of the soil), but also a higher percentage of organic substances.
Coltures
Given the natural diversity of the soil, the Farm can cultivate many different fruits and vegetables. The Vineyard and the Oliveto are located in the Northern part of the Farm. The are three Vineyard areas surrounding the Farm Resort. We cultivate 21 different Grape varieties over roughly 12 hectars. Most of them are indigenous Varieties like Trebbiano, Sangiovese and Vermentino, but some others, like Chardonnay, Roussannne and Semillon Blanc, come from afar. Our Olive trees cover a smaller area, and include two widely cultivated Tuscan varieties: Frantoio and Leccina.
The Central and Southern areas are cultivated with Legumes (many varieties of Beans, Fava, lentils), Cereals (Spelt and Barley), Vegetables (a great variety of Tomatoes, Zucchini, Aubergines, but also Watermelons, Melons and Pumpkins) and ancient varieties of Wheat.
Different cultures require many efforts and a profound knowledge of biology and chemestry: that’s why we costantly take advice from our Agronomist our Oenologist. Moreover, for twenty years already, we’ve been working together with the Agricoltural department of the University of Pisa for soil and climate monitoring.
Responsabilities
Our most pressing concern and responsability as producers of Food and Wine, is the environmental impact of our farming. We actively enforce biological pest control of undesirable insect and even birds, and rely solely on organic antifungal sprays.We utilize exclusively green or brown manure as fertilizers, and apply the latest crop rotation tecniques. Also, since 2015 we introduced solar powered machines and we are bringing to zero the use of plastic in the entire farm.
This may sound like a lot of work, but we are much more concerned about what can still be done, other than content of what we already achieved. More info about Tuscan Responsible Farming can be found on our Region’s official Website
