Patrizia Cencioni - Rosso di Montalcino 2021 750ml (14% ABV)

estate founded in 1989 in southeast corner of Montalcino

vineyards at 350m elevation, 20 year old vines, wind swept plateau, cool climate for the region, galestro soil (mineral rich clay and volcanic soil)

a baby Brunello for all the Chianti / Sangiovese lovers

Many an independent winemaker will tell you that if you want something done well, you’re going to have to do it yourself. Patrizia Cencioni takes this adage to the extreme—as winemaker, vineyard manager and owner, she is the singular beating heart and soul of her independent estate.

While Patrizia’s family roots do reach back decades in Montalcino, hers is not a typical tale of wine-stained generations, each planting vines and learning from the next. Patrizia wanted to make Brunello wines (but her extended family felt it wasn’t “women’s work”); thus, she bought a crumbling property on the northeast flanks of Montalcino in 1989 and set to doing things her way.

Today Patrizia’s soulful wines stand as a solid example of how hard work and perseverance can take a dream and transform it into one of the more promising boutique estates in this world-famous appellation.

Sitting on a perfect plateau some 1,050 feet above sea level, Azienda Agricola Patrizia Cencioni benefits from a particularly windy microclimate that moderates the more Mediterranean heat of this side of Montalcino. Brunello here is wonderfully suave and savory, with tangy licorice and black cherry fruit. Patrizia’s Riserva, a single-vineyard selection of older vines, takes this intensity a notch higher, all the while preserving the freshness and energy that the best Sangiovese Grosso wines can and should give.

Today Patrizia works side-by-side with her daughters, Annalisa and Ariana, in the fields and in the cantina. They represent Montalcino’s next winemaking generation, forging their own traditions, just as their mother did.

8400 bottles produced

an elegant expression of this typically bold red, red and purple florals and berry fruit, plums, leather, subtle baking spice, star anise, menthol, medium to full bodied, silky tannins, warming finish

region: Tuscany, Italy

varietal: Sangiovese

style: red 

farming/cellar: hand picked, vinified in steel, aged one year in huge 26,000L Slavonian oak botti, 

pairing: pasta bolognese, grilled sausages, pepperoni slice,