Tenuta Mara

San Clemente, a hill-top town in south-eastern Emilia Romagna near Rimini just a few kilometers from the Adriatic sea, is home to a unique winery combining art, music, and biodynamic wine-making techniques that eschew all modern chemicals. The Tenuta Mara winery and surroundings are home to a host of artifacts by famous Italian contemporary artists such as Mauro Staccioli and Giò Pomodoro. A BOSE sound system which pipes carefully chosen classical music mixed with the odd Rolling Stones song to the vineyards and aging rooms. The entire project is a testament to the realization that nature, art, music, and people form an integrated whole where each is nourished. The grounds house 800 bird nests (overseen by an ornithologist), 70 boxes for bats, 10 nesting houses for insects, and a small stable with three horses; these diverse elements come together to enhance biodiversity and provide the perfect environment for wine-making.

This unique endeavor arose from the passion of entrepreneur Giordano Emendatori, and today continues under the management of his daughter Elena. The pillars of these efforts are the agronomist Leonello Anello, and the vigneron and farm manager Leonardo Pironi.

Tenuta Mara uses Demeter-certified agriculture techniques to craft Sangiovese using innovative biodynamic methods. Vines are grown according to the lunar calendar, and instead of artificial fertilizer the soil is treated with natural substances of plant and animal origin. All else is left to the thousands of microorganisms that live in the ground and keep the soil healthy.

The winery produces about 30,000 bottles of MaraMia – Tenuta Mara’s flagship red wine of 100% Sangiovese. The grapes are harvested and selected carefully by hand. The juice is then spontaneously fermented with its natural yeasts in concrete vats, also colorfully painted by local artists, without altering the temperature of the must. Finally the wine arrives in the cellar, where it ages for 18 months in large French oak casks prior to a year-long bottle aging period.

In 2014 Giury was debuted: Giury is also a biodynamic Sangiovese produced from the youngest grapes at Tenuta Mara. This wine rests for 12 months in “Tulipe” truncated tapered tanks to preserve the young fruit’s flavour. In 2016 “Maramato” a rosato wine was added to the portfolio.

The wines of Tenuta Mara are characterized by minimal human intervention. Nature will write a different story every year. A story that arises out of the delicate balance of the carefully nurtured ecosystem and the exquisite selection of art and music which delight the senses.

In line with the philosophy of the estate, all this love and care comes together in an elegant presentation of Maramia Sangiovese.