ECO-BALANCED & LOW INPUT FARMING
Banfi is a pioneer in the effort to manage its activities with social responsibility and it cultivates with care and respect of the environment. Over the last 14 years, Banfi has participated in low input cultivation by carefully monitoring fertilization and agrochemical treatments, considerably reducing the quantities applied, and focusing on low-persistence ingredients that are gentle to the environment.
REDUCING THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT
Banfi has one of the highest ratios of forest to cultivated land among European wine estates. We plant local species particularly adapted to the environment, constantly cultivate our forests and scrub to clear fire lanes, and maintain small water basins to fight forest fires and provide drinking water for wildlife. Over the past 25 years, Castello Banfi has planted enough cypress trees to shade the 50-mile route between Siena and Florence!
MAINTAINING BIODIVERSITY
Natural meadows bordered by typical Mediterranean bush provide ample grazing for the rich and varied wild fauna, particularly boar, pheasants and deer. We are raising a small herd of Amiata donkeys, a particular local breed that risked extinction, and dedicate part of our estate to groves of prune and olives, fields of wheat and forests of truffle-rooted oaks.
EROSION CONTROL
Castello Banfi is strongly committed to containing soil erosion, having constructed 90 miles of water drainage ditches, 42 miles of underground drainage systems, and 6 miles of stonewalls and embankments. We regularly practice vineyard turfing, planting between the rows with especially designed seed drilling machines.
