He acted alongside Tom Hanks in "Inferno" and studied at Rome's film academy, yet he still came back to the vines. Today Robin Mugnaini runs Fattoria Le Masse in Barberino Val d'Elsa, a biodynamic family estate in the heart of Chianti Classico. His mother a painter from Berlin, his sister an artist, he himself a former actor: the wines made here tell stories. 20 hectares of old Sangiovese vines, some dating from 1974, fermented without temperature control and aged in amphorae by the sculptor Lorenzo Vignoli. "If we don't celebrate this kind of work, what are we doing?" asks Robin, and turns the harvest into a celebration.
From Film Set to Vineyard
When Robin's father Alberto died in 2006, his son was just twenty and dreaming of an acting career. He made his first 300 bottles of wine all the same, out of a sense of duty and out of love for the land. For the next few years he commuted between film sets and the harvest, worked on a film with Ron Howard, stood in front of the camera. Yet every autumn he was drawn back to Barberino. In 2018 he made up his mind for good: the
Chianti Classico needed him more than Hollywood did.
Berlin Art Meets Tuscan Soil
The story of Le Masse begins in the 1950s, when Paolo Mugnaini bought the property. His son Alberto married Christiane, a painter from Berlin who still designs the labels today. Their daughter Lea, also an artist, founded an
artist residency on the estate. Robin himself works with the sculptor Lorenzo Vignoli, who makes his
terracotta amphorae. Art here is not marketing but part of the DNA. The
Camporella Orange – Trebbiano and Malvasia, two weeks on the skins, no sulphur – is made in exactly these amphorae.
Biodynamics as a Way of Life
Robin has farmed biodynamically since 2015, and the estate has been
certified organic since 2020. Preparation 500 in the vineyard, the lunar calendar in the cellar, but always pragmatic, never dogmatic. He deliberately chose not to pursue Demeter certification. "Through biodynamics I met really beautiful producers," he says. The
20 hectares in Barberino and Tavarnelle are home to
Sangiovese vines planted in 1974 and 1986, along with 6,000 olive trees. In the cellar: large wooden casks, concrete vats and the amphorae. No temperature control, no pumps, no compromises, just as at
Tenuta di Carleone, the neighbouring estate where British winemaker Sean O'Callaghan makes the wine.
The Wines: Sangiovese with Soul
The Santa Goccia is Robin's entry-level wine: Sangiovese with Canaiolo and a little Trebbiano, juicy and lively. The Chianti Classico matures in a
2,000-litre wooden cask, with 70% of the 2022 vintage in concrete: "it's the wine that gives me more pleasure". And then there is the Timeo, named after his son: pure Sangiovese and the great wine of the house. Only 18,000 to 25,000 bottles are made each year, artisanal quantities for an estate that sees itself as "artisan". Here the harvest isn't a chore to get through; it's a celebration.
