2022 Rosso di Montalcino, Molino di Sant'Antimo, Tuscany, Italy

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.

Rosso di Montalcino

Rosso di Montalcino is a large Tuscan DOC, to the far south of the Chianti Classico region, which  has been classified since 1983. 

The wines are fruity, soft, light and forward-maturing. They come from Sangiovesse vines outside the finer Brunello di Montalcino DOCG, harvested at up to 62 hl/ha, or from declassified Brunello fruit (often from young vines) in which case the yield must be the same as Brunello wines, at 55 hl/ha.

Sangiovese

A black grape widely grown in Central Italy and the main component of Chianti and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano as well as being the sole permitted grape for the famed Brunello di Montalcino.

It is a high yielding, late ripening grape that performs best on well-drained calcareous soils on south-facing hillsides. For years it was blighted by poor clonal selection and massive overcropping - however since the 1980s the quality of Sangiovese-based wines has rocketed upwards and they are now some of the most sought after in the world.

It produces wines with pronounced tannins and acidity, though not always with great depth of colour, and its character can vary from farmyard/leather nuances through to essence of red cherries and plums. In the 1960s the advent of Super Tuscans saw bottlings of 100% Sangiovese wines, as well as the introduction of Sangiovese/Cabernet Sauvignon blends, the most famous being Tignanello.