Long-time readers of this email may know that Mark and my favorite estate in all of Tuscany is the remarkable La Petraia. Just outside Radda (right next to Dario Cecchini's wonderful butchery and restaurant in Panzano, where where Mario and Armandino Batali learned how to butcher), the 400 year old farmhouse, is located at the top of the highest hill in the Chianti Classico district. From the ancient terraced vineyards and olive groves you can see Sienna and Florence is just over the horizon. Above the fields of lavender, there are hundreds of acres of undisturbed forest on the property, where you can find truffles and wild boar. A gushing spring on the property provides some of the finest water I have ever tasted/bathed in. There are orchards filled with original Tuscan varieties once thought to be extinct, vegetable gardens and greenhouses and beehives as well as chicken coops and cinghiale pigs. There are four rooms to rent out if you like, a commercial kitchen where Susan turned out Michelin-worthy food to the 6 tables in the lovely dining room. Listen to an excellent on-site radio interview Mark and I did here.
They have secured approvals to construct a new cantina (600 sq meters) as well as a stone structure for animals and to restore an existing outbuilding. These approvals are almost impossible to get here, and it took them 8 years to get them. The property also holds an agriturismo license, which is also hard to get.
All this can be yours for €5.5 Million. Find out more of the technical specs here. If you're interested in making a big change in your life, and have a few million dollars laying around, email me and I'll put you in touch with our friend Susan Grant. If you do wind up purchasing the property, you have to invite Mark and me over for dinner.