Le Chiuse - Tour and tasting May 3, 2024

[Troy_Morris]

My wife and I just returned from two weeks in Italy and one of the highlights of our trip was our visit to Le Chiuse in Montalcino.

We headed out from Firenze for the two hour drive down through Siena to Montalcino for our 11:30 appointment. Once past Siena, the drive through the Tuscan countryside is really beautiful.

Lorenzo emailed me a couple of weeks after I booked the appointment, letting me know that the road that turns off the highway, just past Canalicchio di Sopra, that comes in below the estate had been closed for repairs and sent a link for the alternate route, which would bring us in from above. Somehow Google (or me) screwed up the directions and we wound up on the road below anyway, so we had to turn around…the route we took, that goes up the hill past Capanna and back down, is narrow, steep and obviously unfamiliar so it was a bit of a white knuckle ride in our Citroen rental.

We made it in and our host Valentina began our tour. We walked down the path to the vineyards, where she explained some of the history of the property, that it had been part of the Biondi-Santi estate and remained with the family descendants. Great story.

Valentina took us through the facility, explained the process a bit. I took a few random shots:

As we moved up the stairs to the tasting room, Valentina pointed out the older bottles of Biondi-Santi and Le Chiuse they hold:

Now to the tasting. Just some random brief comments:

First, the 2022 Sferracavalli. They make this in limited quantities and only available at the winery. It’s a light and fruity example of 100% Sangiovese, minimally exposed to oak and very easy drinking. They often drink it chilled as a warm weather quaffer.

2022 Rosso di Montalcino: Super pure fruit, really nice Rosso. While I’ve read the 2022 vintage in Tuscany was challenging, if this is any indication, there will be some very good Brunello out there in 2027.

2019 Brunello di Montalcino: In a word, stunning. I don’t have the long experience with Brunello that many on here do, but this is unquestionably a phenomenal wine.

I ended up buying a mixed case. 6x Rosso, 3x Brunello, 3x Sferracavalli. Looking forward to receiving it this fall since I had them hold shipping until after the summer.

We left and headed into Montalcino for some sightseeing and lunch, after which I ended up at Enoteca di Piazza and bought another mixed case, but that’s another story…

[MitchC]

Thanks for the great review and recommendations. Wife and I will be at le chiuse sept 30. Following on same day we are at capanna. Any other recs highly appreciated. We have nine tastings scheduled total.

[Troy_Morris]

Le Chiuse was the only winery we visited in Montalcino. I’d have liked to do more, but time was a challenge as we only had one day and we ended up going to the Enoteca, where I was able to taste a bunch. The 2019 Ciacci Piccolomini Pianrosso is superb so I bought a few there, but a visit to the winery would have been nice.
If you can get over to Chianti, we did go to Fontodi and Viticcio on a different day, both of which I’d recommend.

[TGibson]

Great wines and people. Seems like they don’t get talked about much but they’ve been solid for many years.

[MitchC]

We will be doing fontodi. Di ama and volpaia. We do have some extra time so certainly consider other recommendations

[MitchC]

Here is our itinerary so far. As I said we do have more time on other days o add some visits.

Monday, September 30, 2024

9.30 - pickup at the villa
10.00 - visit & tasting @ Altesino (if available)
12.00 - stop in Montalcino for lunch by a traditional restaurant

14.30 - visit & tasting @ Le Chiuse (if available)
16.30 - visit & tasting @ Capanna (if available)
18.30 - arrival back to the villa

Wednesday, October 2, 2024

9.30 - pickup at the villa
10.30 - visit & tasting @ Fontodi (if available)
12.30 - visit @ Castello di Volpaia with light lunch on site with wine pairing (if available)
16.00 - visit & tasting @ Castello di Ama (if available)
18.30 - arrival back to the villa

Thursday, October 3, 2024
9.30 - pickup at the villa
10.30 - visit & tasting @ Le Ragnaie (if available)
12.30 - visit @ Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona with a food and wine pairing of cheese, cold cuts, bruschetta and dessert (if available)
15.30 - visit & tasting @ Casanova di Neri (if available)
18.30 - arrival back to the villa

[Troy_Morris]

Solid itinerary. The only thing I’d suggest is maybe skipping food at Ciacci and having lunch at Mastrojanni.

[MitchC]

Will do thanks

[R_M_Kriete]

Had a good tasting at Capanna. If you rearrange things, I would recommend eating lunch at their restaurant, Il Passo by Capanna

[Mark_Livingston]

Looks like a great itinerary. We just went this fall and a couple of our favorites were Sesta di Sopra and Tenuta Casanova. Sesta di Sopra is right near Ciacci Piccolomini, wonderful wines and amazing family that run it. Tenuta Casanova also is amazing but the food they serve with the wine might be just as good. Though we had scheduled lunch afterwards and that was mistake, no need to eat for a long time!

Don’t forget to visit Montepulciano as well, just a stunning walled town!

[MitchC]

Yes we will visit. Working on some more tastings so your input is appreciated. Anyone go to sassicia? Dinners is Florence at trattoria sostanza and cammillo trattoria

[Sc0tt_M]

Highly recommend for tastings:

Potazzine. Spectacular small family run vineyard. Their Rosso and brunello consistently among my favorites. Property beautiful as well.

L’Aietta. Smallest producer in Montalcino but top notch wine (Kerin O’Keefe consistently scores his wine near the highest each year). Will be different from the others, his cellar and property is very small. But you will meet an incredibly nice & passionate person

Fuligni, just excellent.

While I have not yet visited, I have heard many positives about Baricci which is on a celebrated hill named Montisoli and is family run

For food, Locanda Demetra cooking school for lunch is a meal I will remember for rest of my life. Just unbelievable food. Many of the tables are outside with a beautiful view. Also greatly enjoyed Il Pozzo, which is in a very small town & seems to be more of a restaurant for locals (based on who was there at the time) and was recommended to us by Chiuse

Chiuse is fabulous as mentioned

Agree with recommendation here that the town of Montepulciano is a great visit. I enjoyed it more than the town of Montalcino itself, which is smaller and I found less interesting

[Greg_Gardner]

Old heads may recall that Gary V was selling the 01 Chiuse BdM for like $39 bucks in 2006 or 2007. I went through half a case in about a year - wish I had saved a bottle or two to see how it aged.