The Maremma is the coastal strip of southern Tuscany, in the province of Grosseto, and for most of its history it was uninhabitable: marshland, malaria and buffalo, drained in stages by the Lorraine grand dukes and finally in the twentieth century. That late start is why its vineyards are modern and its estates large by Tuscan standards.

The Maremma Toscana appellation, created in 2011, covers the whole province, from the sandy coast through the hills of Scansano and Pitigliano to the volcanic ground near Lake Bolsena. Sangiovese leads the reds, with Ciliegiolo, Alicante and the Bordeaux varieties, and Vermentino is the white that has done best, giving something fuller and more saline than it does in Liguria or Sardinia. The landscape is the other draw: cork oak, umbrella pine, hot springs, Etruscan tombs and the long undeveloped beaches of the Parco dell'Uccellina.