ON THE TUSCAN COAST
THE GENESIS
The estate of Petra is owned by the Moretti Family (the owners of the estate is the Moretti family). The founder of the group is Vittorio Moretti, born in 1941, a Cavaliere del Lavoro—one of Italy’s highest honors for entrepreneurial and industrial achievement—and today President of Holding Terra Moretti, the family group founded in 1967.
This is a company whose story begins with the land: hence Terra Moretti, a group that brings together viticulture, hospitality, and the craft of building. (Petra was born from this broader vision) When Petra was born it was never just a winery, but a project that unites architecture, vineyard stewardship, care for the surrounding community, and a profound sense of hospitality.
THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Between the late 1990s and the early 2000s, many wine entrepreneurs arrived on the Tuscan Coast with the aim of interpreting the SuperTuscan model, inspired by the great Bordeaux blends.
The Moretti family too was captivated by this coast as a region still young in its identity, yet extraordinarily well-suited to viticulture.
After a journey through the great Châteaux of Bordeaux, in 1997 Francesca and Vittorio Moretti chose Suvereto for a new winemaking project: an area where Merlot expresses great depth, and where the soils stand out for the presence of pebbled calcareous clays. From the early 2000s, they focused on Bordeaux-style blends: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot.
FROM THE FOUNDING
TO TODAY
- 1997: The Moretti family, together with Professor Attilio Scienza, begins studying the estate’s soils and developing a zoning project.
- 2001–2003: The new winery, designed by Mario Botta, is built.
- 2003–2018: Petra strengthens its identity in the vineyard, with contributions from Marco Simonit and French oenologist Pascal Chatonnet.
- 2019–2023: The estate deepens its work on soils, canopy management, and water management, developing a more precise understanding of individual parcels.
- 2024–today: With the arrival of Andrea Lonardi MW, Petra enters a new phase of awareness and stylistic evolution.
THE TUSCAN COAST
Petra is situated in Suvereto, a medieval village at the heart of the Val di Cornia, in the province of Livorno. The name Suvereto comes from the Latin suber, meaning cork oak. The village was originally known as Suberetum, a reference to the cork oak forests that once covered the area—and that can still be found here today.
From here, the gaze opens onto the Tuscan Coast, a territory shaped by marine emergence, erosion, and tectonic movement, with soils deeply influenced by the proximity of the sea.
The vineyards stand out for the presence of international varieties alongside Mediterranean ones. The light, warm and intense, especially in the morning and at sunset, lends brilliance to the wines. The maritime pines, imposing presences, remind us of the proximity of the sea, while the Mediterranean climate—always ventilated and characterized by the maestrale—favors the production of juicy wines, often with notes of orange.
The soils, generated by a continuous alternation of flysch, and the Mediterranean scrubland—with notes of thyme, mint, and broom flowers—define the deep identity of this territory.
THE GEOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT
The estate extends over approximately 300 hectares of woodlands, vineyards, and olive groves, with roughly 100 hectares under vine, divided into four zones:
- San Lorenzo. Significant presence of pebbly calcareous clays, where Merlot is the principal grape variety.
- Riotorto. Alluvial soils rich in pebbles, where Cabernet Sauvignon prevails.
- Graziani. A flatter area with silty-sandy soils, well-suited to white wines, in particular Vermentino and Viognier.
- Montebamboli. A vineyard terrace (a new project) at approximately 400 m above sea level, with Grenache, Cabernet Franc, and Vermentino.