Fattoria Kappa

TUSCANY, ITALY

The story of Fattoria Kappa begins back in 1999, when two Austrian friends, the journalist Stephan Klasmann and Manfred Klimek, professional photographer (and later founder of “Captain Cork”, Germany’s most popular wine blog) were sat at the pool of Hotel Greif in Lignano, lamenting the sometimes questionable quality of high-priced Italian wines. They decided that making high-quality but affordable wine in Tuscany would be an idea worth exploring, and luckily, they had the chance to do something about this just a few months later, when a friend offered them the lease on a Tuscan vineyard.

Stephan and Manfred found the perfect partner for their project in the oenologist Andrea di Maio, who had started his career at Isole e Olena, famous for its flagship-wine “Cepparello”, from where he moved to Antinori, where he was the winemaker responsible for their Bolgheri appellation “Guado al Tasso”.

From the outset, it was decided that Fattoria Kappa should work in a very traditional way. The three partners believed that the quality of wine stems in the first place from accurate work in the vineyard, from reducing yields and a careful treatment of the soil. The idea was for Fattoria Kappa to produce organic wines with a clear terroir, which are easy-going, but have the complexity and structure of a Grand Cru.