The artist couple Sting (born in 1951) and Trudie Styler (born in 1954) realized a dream with the Il Palagio estate almost 25 years ago and began to produce wine in Tuscany. But unlike some other celebrities, who discovered this as a hobby for a short time and gave it up long ago, the two have remained true to Italy and wine. With the help of Riccardo Cotarella, they now press Chianti Colli Fiorentini and more, and have also opened a pizzeria where they indulge their love of Naples.

 

 

Sting: Il Palagio is a very special place for us and over the past 25 years, winemaking and the winery as a whole have become increasingly important. Film making and music making are of course our main occupations but it is a great pleasure to come to Il Palagio to see how the vineyards are doing, learn about vine growing and wine making and then enjoy the results and compare them with our To share with friends, family and of course the whole world.

 

 

Trudie: We fell in love together in Italy in the winter of 1984 when we visited Venice all by ourselves while expecting our second child, Jake. After that we spent a lot of time in Italy. When we were expecting Eliot in 1989/90, we rented a villa near Pisa. Sting wrote the Soul Cages album inspired by the loss of his parents the year before. We fell in love with the people and lifestyle of Tuscany during this extended stay and decided we wanted a home here. But it was almost another ten years before we found Il Palagio. The attraction of Italy has many facets for us - above all, the people have always welcomed us both incredibly warmly. The weather, the food, the wine, the art, the landscapes, the architecture, the fashion... the beauty that is almost everywhere - all these things work their magic.

 

 

Trudie: Our initial property searches were unsuccessful: homes large enough to be a family retreat but also suitable for large numbers of visitors seemed a bit too palatial and palatial. We had almost given up trying to find a place that felt right. But when we got to Il Palagio, it just clicked. We could imagine living there with the growing up children. We never saw it as a financial investment, but rather an investment in our family.

 

 

Sting: We're excited to contribute to the local community in a variety of ways. We employ many local people in the house and in the country. We also opened a pizzeria next to our farm shop three years ago and it's great to see how both locals and tourists love to come and relax there during the summer months. Most importantly, we both feel we have a real responsibility to care for the land we live in. We can never truly own the land, the trees, the rivers and lakes - but we are here to tend them and leave them in better condition than we found them.

 

 

Trudie: I'm an organic farmer – it just makes sense for me to focus on soil health, which means I don't use artificial fertilizers and harsh chemical pesticides that rob the soil of its natural value. My father Harry was a farmer for a while and when I was a little girl I went with him to help. Dad taught me that we should be stewards of the earth, for the future of the planet and for future generations.

 

 

Sting: We all have to stay optimistic or we lose motivation to continue working hard to improve the situation we have created. In fact, all that is needed for change is political and economic will. Humanity is incredibly imaginative and inventive, and we should all believe in a brighter future because we definitely have the ability to create new technologies to clean up the mess we've created. We can introduce more sustainable ways of farming and feeding everyone. Just planting more trees is a very simple way to make big changes on the planet!

 

 

Trudie: That's a very good idea, especially as the climate has changed - and there are now some very successful sparkling wines from rural England. But no, at the moment we have no plans to expand our wine production into Wiltshire.

 

 

Trudie: It's true that in the past there wasn't much interest in organic wine and even less in biodynamics. But attitudes are inevitably changing, and there is certainly a growing market for organic food and wine today. Interest in health is much greater than it used to be, awareness of how diet affects health has increased and people are eating and drinking more mindfully.

 

 

Sting: 'When We Dance' is a Chianti Colli Fiorentini and represents our territory and our part of Tuscany very well, as it is made in the traditional style to preserve the identity of the growing area. 'Sister Moon' is our flagship wine, made from Sangiovese aged for a year in large traditional casks and Cabernet Sauvignon aged in new tonneaux. This wine has body and delicious aromas of liquorice, chocolate and coffee. Our soil consists of clay and sand, the sand gives the wine soft, silky tannins and a nice acidity. 'Sister Moon' ages very well and is best enjoyed five to eight years after bottling. New is a limited edition Merlot called 'Sacred Love', which will be launched this summer.

 

 

Sting: With a great winemaker like Riccardo Cotarella - who has been with us since 2020 - there is definitely a lot of creativity and artistry in the way he makes his wines. The skill, the experience, the innate talent, the individuality - all these elements come together as they must in anyone producing art that reaches people. A good glass of wine is like a good song... The experience changes from the first scent, to the first sip, to the lingering aromas that linger long after drinking. Just like a story or a song, a good wine must have a beginning, a middle, a surprise, and a satisfying finish.

 

 

Sting: We both grew up in the 1950s and 1960s in working class families and areas where wine was rarely drunk. Our experience with wine was very limited - we'd only seen a Mateus Rosé which people would normally buy for the fancy bottle! Our taste for Château Margaux developed much later! But Trudie actually prefers crisp white and rosé wines.

 

 

Sting: Baci sulla Bocca is the answer to Trudie's preference for crisp white wine! At the first tasting, she described it "like a kiss on the mouth." That was during the pandemic, so kissing on the mouth wasn't a very common thing in the world... It was from this comparison that the inspiration came to use Elliott Erwitt's famous photograph on the label of the wine, which went on to be a huge hit.

 

 

Trudie: The pizzeria has now been open for the third summer and has been a great success so far. There's a campsite not far from Il Palagio, and it goes very well together: a pizzeria is a great place for families to eat outside, safe in the knowledge that the kids have a safe place to play and it's not at all formal. Unlike in a restaurant. But we also offer traditional Tuscan antipasti and desserts.

 

 

Trudie: We love Neapolitan pizza and Tuscan food. We have some local women who usually cook at Il Palagio and their own recipes are always welcome at the table. And yes, sometimes we appreciate British fish & chips or maybe even Indian food. However, regional, fresh ingredients always have priority.

 

 

Trudie: Our goal for all children is for them to pursue their own talents and dreams. If any of them want to get involved in the vineyard, they have the perfect opportunity to do so, but the choice is theirs to make!