What if we acknowledged the labour embedded in every plate of food we eat, in every glass of wine? Forum Synergies trainee Lana Chaduneli spent a rich two weeks in mentorship with pioneering winemaker Charlotte Horton at Castello di Potentino in Tuscany in autumn 2025, where she learned how agriculture, culture and intellectual life need not be separated, but can instead be mutually enriching. By Lana Chaduneli.
Castello di Potentino is situated in the Monte Amiata region of southern Tuscany, one of the most geologically significant and least commercialized areas in the province. The Amiata itself is an extinct volcano whose mineral-rich volcanic soils have, for centuries, provided ideal conditions for viticulture and olive cultivation. The castle lies in a “secret valley” – a remote corner of Tuscany characterized by unspoilt countryside, ancient olive groves and terraced vineyards that have shaped the region’s agricultural identity for over a millennium.
Its remoteness, far from being a liability, has preserved the area’s authenticity and allowed Castello di Potentino to develop as a working estate rather than purely as a heritage monument. The landscape surrounding the castle – with its forests and historic pathways – tells the story of centuries of human settlement, agricultural labour and resilience in the face of economic and social change.
Philosophy of integration
What distinguishes Castello di Potentino from many other restored Tuscan properties is that it functions as a genuinely living, working agricultural estate rather than as a static heritage monument. The estate operates on several interconnected levels. At its core, it remains an active farm, producing wine, olive oil, vegetables and maintaining livestock. The viticultural enterprise is sophisticated and seriously undertaken, yielding award-winning wines under the Potentino label. The kitchen gardens provide seasonal produce for residents and guests, reinforcing principles of food sovereignty and sustainability. This agricultural foundation is philosophically central to the estate’s identity.
Simultaneously, Castello di Potentino has established itself as an intellectual and cultural hub. The castle regularly hosts scientific expeditions, university groups, artists, writers and researchers. These visitors come to study sustainable land management, wine production, or ecology. The estate also organizes documentary festivals, food and wine events and cultural conferences. In this respect, Potentino functions as a bridge between academic knowledge systems and practical agricultural expertise – a place where theoretical understanding encounters embodied experience.
It functions as a site where theoretical knowledge and practical expertise continually inform and enrich one another. These visitors to the castle bring intellectual frameworks that encounter the embodied, practical knowledge of people who work daily with the land, plants, animals and buildings. Neither form of knowledge supersedes the other; instead, they create productive tensions and mutual enrichments. Understanding the biochemistry of fermentation allows for more intentional decision-making about temperature control and timing.
Theory without practice becomes abstraction, practice without theory remains local and limited in scope.
The underlying philosophy at Castello di Potentino rests on the conviction that agriculture, culture and intellectual life need not be separated, rather, they can be mutually enriching. It encompasses environmental sustainability, economic viability, cultural continuity and psychological wellbeing.
This integrated approach reflects a critique of modern fragmentation – the tendency to separate consumption from production, culture from agriculture, leisure from labour. At Potentino, eating and drinking are understood as intrinsically connected to growing food and wine with care and intention.
The communal meals shared by residents, staff, guests and visitors reinforce this philosophy. They are not mere dining events; they are rituals that acknowledge the labour embedded in every plate and glass and that affirm the human connections that make community life possible.
Breaking barriers, changing narratives
Charlotte Horton is the animating force behind Castello di Potentino’s transformation and ongoing mission. With over two decades of experience in winemaking and estate management, she has established herself as one of the most accomplished and respected figures in contemporary Tuscan viticulture.
One of the most intellectually significant aspects of my traineeship involved extended conversations with Charlotte about the particular challenges and opportunities facing women in agriculture, viticulture and rural estate management. These discussions revealed complex, persistent gender dynamics that often remain invisible in mainstream narratives about rural life and wine production.
Charlotte articulated how, despite her extensive technical knowledge, international reputation and demonstrable success in establishing and managing a sophisticated agricultural enterprise, she has faced consistent scepticism and underestimation from male colleagues and local Italian communities. In Italian cultural contexts particularly, women’s authority in viticulture is often questioned or minimized. Men are frequently presumed to possess greater technical expertise, deeper understanding of winemaking processes, or more legitimate claims to agricultural knowledge.
This gender bias operates subtly – through doubts about decision-making capacity, assumptions that a woman’s involvement is secondary or supportive rather than primary and visionary.
Her story offers several important insights for contemporary discussions about gender equity in agriculture and rural professions. First, it demonstrates that women’s under-representation in these fields is not attributable to lack of aptitude, interest, or capability, but rather reflects structural barriers, cultural biases and institutional practices that systematically advantage men. Furthermore, her example suggests that movements toward gender equity in agriculture and viticulture require not only individual women challenging stereotypes but also systemic changes in how agricultural knowledge is valued, how expertise is recognized and how leadership opportunities are distributed.
Learning through labour
Wine production is the cultural heartbeat of Castello di Potentino. During my traineeship, I was integrated into various stages of the winemaking process. Through this work, I understood viscerally how wine production depends on countless unglamourous, labour-intensive steps that never appear on elegant labels or tasting notes.
I learned about fermentation and storage methodologies – both traditional approaches that have been refined over centuries and contemporary scientific understanding of yeast, temperature control and oak ageing. Charlotte explained her philosophy regarding which wines benefit from extended barrel ageing (developing complexity and mellow tannins) versus those best released younger to preserve freshness and fruit-forward characteristics. These decisions require knowledge that is simultaneously technical and intuitive, rooted in accumulated experience and sensory expertise.
The physical, intellectual and managerial work required to operate an estate like Castello di Potentino is substantial and multifaceted. Yet because much of this work is historically associated with women (cooking, household management, animal care) or is performed by women in a male-dominated field (viticulture, land management), it often receives less recognition or prestige than comparable work in other contexts.
Charlotte’s insistence on full recognition for her knowledge and achievements is not merely personal assertion; it is a necessary correction to systemic patterns of undervaluing women’s contributions. Her example illustrates that gender equity requires not only removing formal barriers but also transforming cultural narratives about whose expertise counts, whose leadership is recognized and whose vision shapes institutional directions.
Sustainability beyond environmental discourse
The concept of sustainability, much invoked in contemporary environmental discourse, often remains somewhat abstract. At Castello di Potentino, sustainability emerges as a concrete, daily practice. The estate produces much of its own food, sources materials locally when possible, maintains long-term relationships with workers and communities and prioritizes soil health and biodiversity. These practices are driven not primarily by environmental ideology but by practical recognition that such approaches work – they produce excellent products, maintain community relationships and preserve the possibility of continued production across generations.
This distinction is important. Rather than sustainability being imposed as an external requirement or moral imperative, it emerges from the logic of how the estate actually functions. Small-scale producers cannot externalize environmental costs the way industrial operations can; they must live with the consequences of their practices. This creates inherent incentives toward sustainability that larger, more abstracted operations lack.
Scalability and alternatives
A question that emerged during my time at Potentino concerns the relationship between models like this estate and the broader systems of food production and rural land use that characterize the contemporary world. Castello di Potentino functions effectively, produces excellent products, supports a multi-generational community and maintains environmental and cultural values – yet it operates at a small scale, requires significant intellectual and financial resources to establish and maintain and depends on particular historical circumstances and individual commitment.
This raises genuine questions about scalability. Small-scale, integrated estates like Potentino achieve their environmental and social benefits partly through their smallness, which allows for attentive management and relationship-based decision-making.
Examples like Castello di Potentino serve important functions beyond their direct material production. They demonstrate possibilities – they show that alternative ways of organizing agricultural labour, of relating to land and of integrating culture and production are feasible. They provide spaces where people can experience and learn these alternatives. They contribute to broader cultural conversations about what we value and what kinds of futures we want to create.
Conclusion
During my traineeship at Castello di Potentino, I gained practical knowledge of community organization, multi-generational teamwork and sustainable agricultural practices, while developing a lived understanding of alternative organizational models grounded in integration, care and equity.
Through daily life at the castle and conversations with Charlotte Horton, I observed how gender shapes professional authority, labour and recognition, and how women pioneers in traditionally male-dominated fields navigate persistent biases through commitment, strategic intelligence and a refusal to accept limiting narratives – gradually transforming systems and opening paths for others.
I leave this experience with strengthened practical skills, deeper intellectual insight about alternative organizational models and a renewed conviction that another world is not merely theoretical, but is being built through the long-term dedication of individuals and communities. I am deeply grateful to Charlotte Horton, the team at Castello di Potentino and the Forum Synergies scholarship programme for making this transformative journey possible.
The Forum Synergies scholarship programme 2026 is now open for registration. Click here to find out more, and to register as a trainee or host.
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