![\"Giovanni](\"https:\/\/elitetraveler.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/01\/giovanni-mazzei-e1768474619542-300x283.jpg\")
<\/div>\nTrogolo<\/a> may look modest from the outside, but it\u2019s got some serious pedigree \u2013\u00a0its owners are Lara Boglioni, managing director of London-based, Italianate lifestyle brand Petersham Nurseries<\/a>, and her winemaker husband Giovanni Mazzei, heir to the 600-year-old Tuscan wine<\/a> empire Marchesi Mazzei<\/a>. The couple are based with their children in Chianti Classico but keep a foot in west London \u2013\u00a0and it\u2019s here that they saw an opportunity to create a restaurant<\/a> that reminded them of home.<\/p>\n \u201cTrogolo means \u2018trough\u2019 in Italian,\u201d says Mazzei, \u201cand that\u2019s because the Tuscan approach to cuisine is very down-to-earth. We want this to be the kind of place for enjoying long, loud, generous meals with friends.\u201d But all the same, adds Boglioni, \u201cit is Italian trattoria-meets-Notting-Hill, so expect something slightly more contemporary \u2013\u00a0the team wear Kappa tracksuits and we play Italian disco from the 1970s and 1980s.\u201d<\/p>\n The long, narrow space has been warmed with dusky-pink limewash; marble tables are dressed with butcher\u2019s paper placemats and potted plants; seating is wooden benches and rustic-looking stools. Cases of wine are stacked in every corner; a tiny interior courtyard lets in light from above, while downstairs more tables are ranged alongside a counter groaning with salamis, rounds of cheese and a leg of ham. Trogolo is cozy, noisy, convivial \u2013\u00a0and very appetizing.<\/p>\n The seasonal Tuscan menu is delicious \u2013\u00a0artichoke frittata, beef carpaccio with white truffle, pappardelle with wild boar. But the real draw here is the wine list, and its preponderance of interesting Tuscan labels including Mazzei\u2019s passion project IPSUS.<\/p>\n In less than ten years, this single vineyard, 100 percent Sangiovese Chianti Classico has gained a following bordering on cult, prized for its freshness, elegant power, and particular sense of place (IPSUS is Latin for \u2018himself\u2019).\u00a0<\/p>\n The fruit for IPSUS hails from a single, 16 acres vineyard in the medieval hamlet of Il Caggio, a 370 acres plot of land which the Mazzei family acquired in 2006. Owned outright by the family, it\u2019s what the French might call a \u2018monopole\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cWe knew at once this vineyard had something very special,\u201d recalls Mazzei. \u201cIt produced Sangiovese like we\u2019d never seen before: very fruit-forward, very much more on the red fruit than the darker fruit \u2013 lovely drinkability, in a way that\u2019s very modern, very contemporary. It\u2019s very light, but like a kilo of feathers \u2013 you still have the weight of a kilo but it\u2019s very fluffy, with supple tannins that are almost melting at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n The first IPSUS vintage, released in 2020, was 2015 \u2013\u00a0and Mazzei has evolved the winemaking since then, introducing bigger barrels and ceramic vessels to keep the wine \u201cbright and shining\u201d. IPSUS is a Chianti Classico Gran Selezione, the highest classification in the region.<\/p>\n I taste a vertical of IPSUS from 2016 to 2021 with Mazzei, and I can really sense the wine\u2019s energy ramp up from 2019 \u2013\u00a0it develops wonderful juiciness and tension. 2020 is almost acrobatic.<\/p>\n![\"Trogolo\"](\"https:\/\/elitetraveler.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/01\/tuscan-food-1707x2560.jpg\")
![\"il](\"https:\/\/elitetraveler.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/01\/ilcaggio1.jpg\")
![\"il](\"https:\/\/elitetraveler.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/01\/ipsusnovintage01.jpg\")
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![\"Trogolo\"](\"https:\/\/elitetraveler.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/01\/trogolo-1707x2560.jpg\")