Meet the Moris Family

Last updated: September 25, 2026

The Moris family came to the Maremma from Spain in the early 1700s and became landowners on a scale that no longer exists in most of Tuscany — nearly 6,000 hectares of mixed agriculture producing cereals, fruit, vegetables, and charcoal. The land shrank over the centuries, as Italian estates do, but the family held on to the core: the Poggetti Estate above the Gulf of Follonica, ten minutes from Massa Marittima, with views that reach to Elba and Montecristo.

The figure who haunts the estate is Gualtier Luigi Moris, born in 1911, who inherited Poggetti just before World War II. He was, by all accounts, a visionary with a weakness for trees. He planted more than 3,600 cypress trees along the estate roads from the seeds of a single mother cypress, creating the iconic cross-shaped avenue that is visible from the hilltops around Massa Marittima. At the summit of the estate’s tallest hill — Poggio dell’Avvoltore — he planted a semicircle of trees following careful geometric calculations, a composition that became the most recognizable silhouette in the local landscape and, eventually, Morisfarms’ logo. When Gualtier died in 2001, a stone was placed in his honor with the inscription: “Chi nella vita ha piantato almeno un albero non è vissuto invano” — “He who has planted but one tree has not lived in vain.”

The wine story is the next generation’s achievement. Adolfo Parentini, a Florentine who married into the family, began rethinking the estate’s production in the late 1980s — a time when the Maremma was still Tuscany’s unknown outback. Working with consulting winemaker Attilio Pagli, Parentini replanted vineyards at dramatically higher densities (from 2,500 to 5,100 plants per hectare), focused on Sangiovese, and in 1988 released the first vintage of Avvoltore — a Sangiovese-Cabernet Sauvignon-Syrah blend named for the hawks that circle the Poggetti hilltops. It was, effectively, Maremma’s first Super Tuscan, and it remains the estate’s flagship.

The Products

Morisfarms produces across two estates with distinctly different terroirs. The Poggetti Estate near Massa Marittima (37 hectares, clay soil, 80–100 meters elevation, southwest exposure, sea proximity lending salinity to the whites) produces the Monteregio di Massa Marittima DOC wines and the Avvoltore. The Poggio la Mozza Estate near Scansano (35 hectares, sandy alluvial soil) is dedicated to Morellino di Scansano DOCG — the Sangiovese-based red that is the Maremma’s most recognized appellation.

Avvoltore is the wine that built the reputation: Sangiovese blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and a small percentage of Syrah, aged in French oak. It is structured, generous with dark fruit, and ages with a patience that rewards cellaring. The Morellino di Scansano Riserva — now named Gualtiero from the 2021 vintage onward, in tribute to the cypress-planting patriarch — is the estate’s most emotionally charged bottle.

The Vermentino — crisp, mineral, marked by coastal salinity — is the white to drink on the Terrazza while looking at the Gulf of Follonica. The estate also produces olive oil from its own groves.

Visiting Morisfarms

The Terrazza Moris at the Poggetti Estate is the tasting venue — an outdoor terrace at the heart of the 300-year-old property with panoramic views across the Maremma countryside to the Gulf of Follonica, Elba, and on clear days Montecristo. The terrace is open Monday through Saturday during summer season, with wines and light food (crostini, cured meats, cheeses from the estate’s own gardens) available à la carte.

Guided tastings are offered by reservation, including a vertical tasting of three Avvoltore vintages with Tuscan crostini, or a six-wine tasting with a charcuterie-and-cheese platter (approximately €60 for two). Languages: Italian and English.

The estate is also an agriturismo — the Moris family operates a country guesthouse on the property for visitors who want to stay within the cypress-lined roads that Gualtier planted. The private roads of the estate are open for walking, and the memorial stone with Gualtier’s inscription is reachable on foot.

Getting there: Fattoria Poggetti is in Località Cura Nuova, roughly 10 minutes south of Massa Marittima and 15 minutes from Follonica. Well-signposted from the main road. Reservations recommended, especially in high season: tastings@morisfarms.it.

Information is provided in good faith and may change. Always confirm opening hours, prices, and event dates with the official source before you travel.