Molino di Sant'Antimo

The estate was established in the early 1980s by Carlo Vittori. At the time he was in the middle of a successful career as a wine consultant in the Montalcino area, but also held a burning desire to make his own wine. Over the years, near the village of Castelnuovo dell’Abate and close to the famous Romanesque Abbey of Sant’Antimo, he slowly acquired virgin land and derelict buildings, all of which he planted and renovated. The estate now covers 11 hectares of vineyards in 12 separate plots, all in the most southern sector of the region and at heights between 200 - 300 metres. There is a variety of soils: predominantly stones on the lower sites, and clay on the upper slopes. The property is in a stunning location, perched on sedimentary cliffs and practically in the shadow of Monte Amiata.

Following on from her father’s hard work, Valeria Vittori is now making the wine here, and there has been a subtle, yet discernible, shift in style. The most obvious is a move to smaller barrels of 20-25hl that allows each parcel to be aged separately. Valeria believes this level of detail is crucial to giving her wines more precision in the hotter vintages. This is a warm sector anyway, with the harvest starting earlier than most. Less obvious, but also significant in their influence, are the three tanks that Valeria is able to seal during fermentation to allow the cap to be submerged for three or four hours at a time. This generates a gentler extraction, both in terms of contact between the juice and skins, and also in how the fermentation proceeds without open access to the air. The result is a wine that is gentler, silkier and especially more red fruit-accented than before. When tasting some of the younger vintages from barrel, there was almost a hint of Pinot Noir to their perfume and lightness of touch. This is a new producer for us, and definitely one to watch.