Tenuta degli Dei has been owned by Tommaso and Roberto Cavalli for well over thirty years. Their winemakers, Gioia Cresti and Carlo Ferrini – Wine Enthusiast’s 2007 winemaker of the year – have worked together since 1998. The estate is located in the village of San Leolino, near Panzano in Chianti, one of the loveliest regions in the Tuscan countryside. Their wines also contain juice from grapes grown in vineyards just south of the city of Florence. +

All grape varieties grown on the estate are of French origin: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Alicante Bouschet. They are  insist on hand-harvesting, as well as a two-step hand-selection process, to insure that only the best grapes are selected for fermentation the grapes undergo two rounds of manual selection: one round for clusters, and one round for individual berries. Maturation takes place over 18 months in French-oak barrels, after which the wines are bottle-aged for 12 months. Each vintage of Cavalli Tenuta degli Dei “wears” its own distinctive print from the family’s renowned fashion house on its label as a way of distinguishing between vintages.