Montepulciano steps out of the shadows of Montalcino

Montelpulciano, located in southern Tuscany, is stepping out of the shadows of its more famous neighbour Montalcino, with the region’s six top producers forming an alliance to produce single vineyard, single varietal Sangiovese wines, in the hopes of competing with the likes of Brunello.

Vineyards owned by Poliziano in Valiano

Located roughly 120km south of Florence, the picturesque renaissance town is not often the first that comes to mind when talking about Tuscan wines.

Wedged between Chianti and Montalcino, Montepulciano’s storied and historic red wine Nobile di Montepulciano often got lost among crowded shelf space or worst yet, mistaken as the Montepulciano d’Abruzzo grape in Marche.

The region, rich in sandy and clay soil mixed with sediments of fossilised shells, consists of two distinct zones, the hills around the township of Montepulciano, and the hills around the township of Valiano, which are about 10km to the west and separated by the Val del Chiano plain.

Nobile di Montepulciano, or the ‘noble wine’ as locally known, has been made using the Sangiovese clone Prugno Gentile in the region for centuries. The wine was hailed in 1549 by the cellar master for Pope Paul III as being the ‘perfect wine’, yet in the more recent decades, its halo has been clipped by more the famous Montalcino, roughly 20km away.

A Sangiovese-based red Tuscan wine, Nobile is made with at least 70% of the dominant red grape blended with a maximum of 30% local grapes, such as Canailo, Mammalo or international varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah.

According to local DOCG rules, a Nobile must be aged for at least two years, of which one year must be in oak barrels, and three years in total for a Nobile reserva.

Today’s Nobile seems to have found its lead actors through six top producers in the region, namely Avignonesi, Antinori’s La Braccesca, Poliziano, Cantine Dei, Boscarelli and Salcheto. The six producers formed an alliance, with the goal of  “restoring the badge of honour of the Nobile,” Max de Zarobe of Avignonesi declared.

In order to communicate its terroir and grape, Alliance members have each produced a single vineyard, 100% Sangiovese Nobile, much higher than what’s required by local DOCG of 70% Sangiovese, to help raise the region’s standing.

“The main purpose of the Alliance is to restore the badge of honour of the Nobile by promoting the outstanding characteristic of the Sangiovese grown in Montepulciano,” de Zarobe explains.

This year, the six members will each launch the 2015 vintage of their first Alliance wine, bearing the Alliance logo.

Click through the pages to check out the vineyards, soil, wines and the people behind the labels. 

Avignonesi

Carts of Merlot are wheeled into the reception area at Avignonesi in Valiano of Montepulciano in mid September. The winery has more than 400 hectares of vineyards in Montepulciano, making it the biggest vineyard holder in the region. After fully acquiring the winery in 2009, former ship owner-turned-vintner Virginie Saverys and Max de Zarobe gradually expanded and converted the winery to biodynamic farming practices. Today it has eight different vineyard locations across Montepulciano: Lodola, Le Capezzine, Le Badelle, I Poggetti, El Grasso, Banditella, Matracchio, and Greppo.

When harvest is at full throttle, rescued puppy Nuvola at Avignonesi is everyone’s comic relief.

Other than Nobile, Avignonesi makes a highly rated Vin Santo. The Trebbiano and Malvasia grapes destined to make the sweet wine are being dried on bamboo racks before being sent for fermentation and ageing in a small 50-litre barrel for an average of 10 years. The natural fermentation process for this lusciously sweet wine is long – four years to be exact, and about 22 litres will be lost from 45 litre juice in the barrel – similar to the Angel’s Share in whisky. Production for the white Vin Santo is only about 1,000 bottles when vintage allows.

Juggling between winery management and his amateur photographic duties at Avignonesi, Max seems to have learned that work and life is a balancing act.

La Braccesca 

Antinori’s La Bracessca, situated near the border of Umbria, has about 340 hectares of vineyards in Montepulciano and neighbouring Cortona. Purchased by the Antinori family in 1990, the estate owns a little more than 100 hectares of vineyards in Montepulciano’s three subzones in Cervognano, Santa Pia and Gracciano, planted with mainly Sangiovese and Merlot. Cortona seen in the far back on the hilltop is also home to the winery’s 237 hectare international plantings mainly with Syrah grape. The soil in its Montepulciano vineyards is rich in reddish clay with rocks, composed as a result of volcanic activities by Mount Amiata in the region.

La Braccesca’s Nobile range is mainly made with the dominant Sangiovese grape, blended with Merlot, which according to the winery makes the wine “more elegant and smooth”. The Rosso di Montepulciano is finished with around 15% of Merlot, and the Nobile di Montepulciano is blended with 10% Merlot in general. The Santa Pia Nobile Reserva on the far right is not produced every year with first vintage made in 2001. This is a single vineyard wine made from 100% Sangiovese grown from 40-50 year-old vines, according to the winery. The Alliance wine (third from left) is yet to be bottled, and is called ‘Maggiarino’, which according to the winery is a single vineyard and 100% Sangiovese, with only around 5,000 bottles made.  

Cantine Dei

Cantine Dei, located close to the centre of Montepulciano town, is founded by Alibrando Dei back in 1964. The winery has a 10.5 ha single vineyard called Bossona, which produces its top cuvee of the same name for Nobile Reserva. The vineyard is rich in clay soil roughly 400 metres above sea level with components with fossiled shells as seen in the photo. This character of the soil prevalent in top vineyards in Montepulciano is believed to give the wine more structure, body and minerality, while sandy soil on the other hand makes Sangiovese slightly softer on the palate. In addition to Bossona, the family-owned winery also purchased the Martiena property situated at the foot of the village of Montepulciano. Today, the winery is run by Alibrando’s granddaughter Caterina, who is also a talented singer.

Sangiovese Prugnolo Gentile seen at Dei’s Bossona vineyard. The 2018 vintage started with a wet winter and spring but in summer it was dry and hot, and no major diseases have affected the grapes. In Montepulciano, no irrigation is allowed.

Other than wine, Cantine Dei’s owner made their fortune in the travertine marble business. The winery’s new cellar combined the family’s two interests, and is made entirely of travertine measuring seven metres underground. The cellar boasts a constant microclimate, an optimal level of humidity controlled by a geothermal system, according to  the winery. The snail-shaped spiral entrance to the cellar also refers to the sea fossils found in Bossona.

Poliziano

The first ever Nobile di Montepulciano produced by Poliziano winery displayed inside its cellar. Founded in 1961, the winery has today grown to its present size of 130 hectares of vineyards. Its name is an homage to the humanist poet Angelo Ambrogini (1454-1494), known as “Il Poliziano”, who was born in Montepulciano. The winery has a few single vineyards namely, Asinone, Caggiole, Valiano, Lama, Casale and Pozzi.

Tasting samples from straight from a stainless steel tank with winery owner Federico Carletti in the Poliziano cellar. The stallion of the family winery took over from his father after 1980 and is responsible for creating the winery’s flagship Nobile from a 14ha single vineyard called ‘Asinone’. First released in 1983, the Nobile is only produced in the best years, and the number of bottles averages around 20,000 to 40,000 bottles.

Poliziano’s Nobile range from left to right: Le Caggiole 2015, the Alliance wine, its top single vineyard red ‘Asinone’ 2015, Nobile di Montepulciano 2015 and Rosso di Montepulciano. Asked why the winery decided to join the Alliance, Carletti stated that the idea of having a 100% Sangiovese is a “strong presentation” to the market. “We want a single vineyard because it’s more typical of terroir. In the end, we are proud to show the world six wines, all different but same in the ideology,” he continued, speaking of the six Alliance wines.  

Boscarelli 

The family-owned small winery Boscarelli in Cervognano of Montepulciano was founded in 1962 when Egidio Corradi moved from Genova in northern Italy to Montepulciano to pursue his winemaking dream. Today, the winery is managed by Luca de Ferrari and his brother Nicolò de Ferrari who is more involved in viticulture side of the family business. Different from other vineyards in the area, Luca believes the winery’s red clay soil with stone and silt found in its top sites such as Nocio, meaning ‘walnut tree’ is what makes the winery’s wine different from others. The Nocio vineyard measures about 2 ha and produces about 4,000 to 5,000 bottles of wine.

Boscarelli produced its first ever Nobile Reserva in 1968. Different from producers in the region, decades ago the winery started making a 100% Sangiovese, not a popular wine to make at that time when Super Tuscans captured Italian producers and global wine consumers. The bottle shown above is a 1985 vintage of Nobile di Montepulciano. The winery’s Alliance wine is called ‘Costa Grande’, a north-facing vineyard of two hectares that is prominent with clays rich with sedimented soil, a result of the Mount Amiata’s volcanic activities, according to the winery.

Luca showed the first vintage of Boscarelli’s 1968 Nobile Reserva and a photo of the harvest at the time. His mother, Paolo, standing next to him was the young lady on the right corner of the photo, helping with the harvest.

Salcheto 

Michele Manelli has been helming Salcheto winery since 1997, and has since completely revolutionised the winery’s production, aiming for sustainability and a CO2 emission-free goal. The wines are made organically and since his takeover, the motorbike-riding vintner has expanded its winery production, revamped wine labels and introduced new wine ranges with ‘Obvius line, its top cuvee ‘Salco’ made from roughly five ha of vineyards with 100% Sangiovese, and ‘Salco 2089’, a blend of 2008 and 2009 vintages.

The first thing you would notice when visiting Salcheto is the UFO-like objects dotted outside the winery. These are actually what winery owner Michele Manelli calls ‘light conveyor’ that can collect natural sunlight and direct them into wine cellar deep underground without using electricity. The tube is lined with reflective silver film to collect and direct sunlight at different angles to reach the winery’s underground cellar. This is one of the sustainable and energy-saving practices Salcheto employs. The winery also lined the exterior of its cellar with what Michele calls ‘a vertical garden’, consisting of a wall of thick vegetations grown on coconut fibres to moderate cellar temperature. The environmentally-conscious winery also claims to be the first company in the world to have certified the carbon footprint of a bottle of wine, according to ISO 14064 standard in 2011.

The town of Montepulciano on the hilltop can be seen from the foothills of Salcheto winery. The winery also has two wood-fired hot tubs built from wine barrels outside in the open air for the guests staying at its hospitality centre called Wine House, which offers nine guest rooms.

Six of the wineries showcased the wines they are planning to release after forming the Alliance. Based on the Alliance’s agreements, each winery will make a single vineyard, 100% Sangiovese Nobile from its 2015 vintage. From left to right are Antinori’s yet to be labelled ‘Maggiarino’, Avignonesi, Boscarelli ‘Costa Grande’, Cantine Dei ‘Bossona’, Poliziano ‘Caggiole’ and Salcheto’s yet to be labeled Nobile. Cantine Dei will release another single vineyard for the Alliance wine from its vineyard called La Piaggio, but the wine has yet to be named and bottled, as the winery was a late addition to the Alliance.