Lately I’ve been gravitating to BdM wines that hail from the northern side of Montalcino (global warming?).
Can you suggest some of your favorites from the north, please?
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I don’t know the area nearly so well as others and I’m sure someone can provide more detail than I. With that said, I would just go for recs that speak to the more elegant styled producers rather than a specific geographic location. Vineyard direction, elevation, and growing choices will all have equal or more impact in this hilly zone than the relatively small N-S spread.
Costanti is a longtime favorite and it is in the SE. Pretty high elevation here. I like Pian dell’Orino (repped them for their first vintage or two) is nearby.
More to the N I like Le Chiuse for something that is reasonably priced. Curious how Fattoria del Pino is coming along. I represented the first two vintages. I think she was on track to make nice, elegant wines. Great little zone for growing.
Also curious if anyone has tasted Cerbaiona from 2016 onward under the new ownership. The old wines were some of my favorites of the area. I visited in the middle of the transition and liked what I saw of the changes.
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Baricci, Valdicava, and Altesino are all north of Montalcino.
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It appears the main Altesino bottling is a blend of vineyards from both the north and south,
I visited last year, but wasn’t really wowed by the product. However, I’m not totally on board with “biodynamic” wine practices, which she (Jessica) leans into heavily. That being said, she was a gracious host and the staff at Le Chiuse is bullish on her wines.
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Interesting. I appreciate the report. I agree these were/are not the best of what the region offers. I can’t remember exactly but want to say retail would have been around $60 when I represented them so I thought they were fair value. I thought they were promising for early efforts. The big surprise to me is to hear that she’s gone biodynamic. When I asked about how she was growing she was pretty old school farmer in rejecting any dogmatism in growing practices and wanted to keep options open for non-organic methods depending on the weather in any given season. I could tell by looking at the vineyards that she was pretty natural and not blasting them with agent orange but she was adamant in her position about not following any particular regimen other than what she thought necessary to have a healthy vineyard. De Grazia picked her up beginning with 2012 or 2013. I have no idea what he’s up to these days but I wonder if he had any influence on this decision.
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Le Chiuse is north of town, also Capanna, not far from Le Chiuse. Further up Montesoli, the aforementioned Baricci, of course, and Valdicava.
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Have visited Capanna and had a great tasting experience there.
Put me down also as a fan of Capanna
Canalicchio Franco Pacenti could/would also be a producer that fits the bill as well
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