Azienda Agricola Tre Monti traces its origins back to the early 1960s, the inspiration of Sergio Navacchia and of his wife Thea, who for years was the real driving force behind the winery, until her death in 1989.
A turning-point came in the 1980s, the result of a revolution that began in the vineyards and carried over into the cellar. Close relationships were established with the best talent in the Italian wine world: a youthful
Francesco Spagnolli in the early 1980s, followed by Vittorio Fiore, and afterwards Donato Lanati. The fruit of their expertise underpinned the steady growth of the winery, directed by Vittorio and David with the help of their father Sergio.
A drive to achieve growth was a powerful motivation to return to the vineyards in recent years with renewed dedication, to express as fully as possible the local terroir, to see the land not only as the sum total of soils, weather, exposition, and so on, but also as a place where one could read the evidence of man's thought, of his work, with past and present brought into complex harmony.
The heart of the winery lies in the centre of the farm estate in Imola, where only estate-grown grapes are vinified. All of the vineyards are managed according the principles of sustainable viticulture, which mandates inter-row cover-cropping and the lowest possible use of chemicals.
The winemaking operations too, watched over painstakingly by the experienced and talented Vittorio Navacchia, are animated by a philosophy of minimal intervention. Every step is carried out with full respect not only for the integrity of the fruit, but for the unique character of each growing year as well, all of this so that the final wine is the perfect expression of everything that gave it birth.
Detailed understanding of the properties has made possible the planting of grape varieties suited specifically to each site, which has considerably boosted the quality and complexity of the fruit they yield. And optimal fruit quality is precisely the purpose of this project, so that the estate wines will reflect to an ever greater degree the characteristics of their unique origin.
With the native varieties in particular, the goal is to find that perfect equilibrium between experience as legacy of the past and the more scientific awareness created today. A further goal, a bit utopian perhaps, is to preserve the heritage varieties present on the winery estates; already the best cultivars of sangiovese, which are also the oldest here, have been selected out. They will be carefully propagated, in the hope of forging a viticultural link that will bind together all of our local history up to the present moment and passing on that cultural complex, as complete as we can make it, to the wine lovers...and dreamers...who will come after us.