My wine's terroir (4) - Montalcino and Sangiovese

Who doesn't like wine, God take away the water.

(Tuscan dictum)

In the life of each one always there's a no-return point, as well as for many things there's always a first time, that many people say that"you never forget".

Between me and the wine, this first time has undoubtedly coincided with a New Year's Eve in Montalcino, several years ago.

Let's clear. Before that moment I wasn’t abstemious, but my relationship with the "liquid of Bacchus", at first time similar like millions of unconscious drinkers (white/red, dry/sweet/sparkling, good/bad) was in the typical phase that comes before falling in love.

I started reading some thematic blogs (like "wine for dumnies"), considering rating given by sector guide as Holy Bible and drinking some bottles bought at home on the Internet.

I was interested but I wasn’t certainly a wine enthusiast, much less had I been kidnapped by the passion devil for the "nectar of the gods": I had not yet been struck on the road to Damascus.

However, The love at first sight came  during this journey, and from that moment my world and my interests, including many priorities that I previously considered essential changed forever.

Arriving in a place where every corner breathed and talked about wine, traveling around winecellar where everyone - from the owners to the last of the attendants - transmitted passion for what they were doing, made me understand how this world wasn’t limited to the liquid contained inside the bottle, but behind the wine - or rather in front - there were the stories and traditions of a lot of people, but at the same time of entire communities and territories.

For this reason, despite that Tuscany Sangiovese is not my heart-grape variety (but it’s my wife’s), I couldn’t fail to include this area and its main grape among my "Wine terroirs".

However, talking about Sangiovese at Montalcino doesn’t make sense if we do not bring the discussion back to the "only child" of this terroir, unquestionably the best known and appreciated Italian wine in the world: its majesty the Brunello.

A wine that, like few others in the world, binds its history and its evolution to single family, which has "created" Brunello and its own myth: the Biondi-Santi family.

A dynasty that - starting from 1850 - first believed that quality wine could be made in this area and then codified the basic principles of what many decades later would become its own disciplinary, producing over the years – thank to three great interpreters who succeeded each other at the helm of the company (Ferruccio, Tancredi and Franco) – wonderful and eternal wines, titans that were able to challenge and defeat the time passage.


Wines that have given prestige to an entire community, turning the spotlight on a territory that before was among the poorest and most backward of the whole country, giving the boost to many other producers to take the road that in the following decades would have led them to success, fame and wealth.



Coming to the present, and entering a little more in technical detail (after this long historical / personal digression) I would have to make an affirmation, apparently meaningless but that to be examined in detail it might need a book: "it's easy to say Brunello".



It means that nowadays a large part of the consumers of this wine, including some wine-enthusiasts, imagine that Brunello di Montalcino is a wine with a very definite and outlined soul, and in some ways always equal to itself.

Ok, its main characters - especially related to the grape variety - are those: high acidity and thick tannins (especially in youth), peculiar aspects of every great aging Sangiovese wine.

But beyond this, due to a series of geographical features, that is:

- Montalcino’s territory is very large, about 310km² (36th largest of Italy), and due to the fact that it’s similar like a square - with the town in its center - between different areas inside the municipality there can be distances of 25km (an eternity)

- inside this territory the altitude is also extremely variable. In fact the lower areas in which Brunello is produced are located at about 100m. above sea level, while the highest vineyards of the denomination reach - and exceed – 600 metres.

- some areas (those facing west) enjoy the influence of the sea more, others (those facing south-east) are affected by the presence of Mount Amiata, while still others are more covered and therefore tend to be colder

- soils are also different according to the areas and especially due to the altitude. Basically more loose and of detrital origin in the lower areas, more compact and formed by decomposition of galestro and alberese rocks in the highest areas

it is evident that it doesn’t make sense to speak about an “unique Brunello”, but we should rather refer to a multitude of different personations of Sangiovese in Montalcino, with heterogeneous characters and peculiarities.

Also due to the fact that also in Montalcino - as happened in other wine regions (Langhe in primis), a generational challenge has arisen, among the most faithful and respectful tradition interpreters (led by Franco Biondi Santi himself) and those who wanted to bring a "modern" innovation to this wine, making it more full-bodied, concentrated and appreciable already in its youth.

Hovewer, beyond this last aspect, wanting to provide a key to understand the various kinds of Brunello according to position of the vineyards, we can divide the municipality into four areas, the so-called "slopes", asserting that:

- wines produced on the northern side (featured by a colder and continental climate) are generally elegant in perfumes and with a remarkable body and structure, as well as being extremely long-lived

- wines produced on the western side (which - as previously mentioned - are affected by the influence of the sea) are generally featured by good structure and marked sapidity

- wines produced on the eastern side (which  - as previously mentioned - are affected by the presence of Monte Amiata, as well as being home to the highest vineyards of the area) are generally more agile and slender (at least in appearance), but at the same time are very deep and with excellent longevity

- wines produced on the southern side (featured by a warmer, almost torrid climate in summer, as well as lower altitude) are more concentrated in colors and with greater alcohol content, although generally have less aging skills

Although, to be honest, it must be recognized that what affirmed above is a bit general, also due to the fact that traditionally in Montalcino there is no culture of cru (as it happens in Langhe and Burgundy).


In fact, the producers – above all the biggest ones – were and still are used to producing their own Brunello by blend of different vineyards, in order to mitigate the variable imposed by the vintage and obtain a high quality final product.



But beyond this last aspect, Brunello remains a great wine, among the principles of Italian enology, loved and sought after all over the world for its ability to be austere and deep but at the same time persuasive and elegant, and therefore transversal to time and fashions.



Bonus Track: 3 labels not to be missed
Personal note: Also in this case - as already happened for the Langhe - cause of the great density of winecellar (and related wines) of great value, my choice follows exclusively an emotional criterion, as well as - allow me – price/quality ratio, an aspect that is can’t be forgot in successfull denominations, that in many cases have reached market prices of their wines not commensurate to real taste value. 

Brunello di Montalcino Fattoi. A wine that like few others it made me realize what means “quality in a bottle”. Faithful expression of the south-western area: rich and full-bodied, with an added rustic feature that makes it more authentic and recognizable. Excellent price/quality ratio, between the best of appellation

Brunello di Montalcino Baricci. Deep and elegant like few others, produced on the north side inside one of more authentic "grand cru" of the municipality, that is Montosoli Hill. Sometimes a little closed and introverted in his youth, but with years it’s able to change its face, becoming a great classicism and prestige Brunello


Brunello di Montalcino Le Chiuse. Great wine, without any discussion. Rich, intense, structured but at the same time fine and elegant, with that magical mix of acidity and tannins that distinguishes the greatest Sangiovese wines