📍 Montalcino

Montalcino is a hill and medieval town south of Siena in Tuscany, central Italy. The famous red wine Brunello di Montalcino was born here. It is made only from Sangiovese (the local clone is called "brunello") and aged for at least five years, at least two of them in oak barrels. Riserva wines are aged longer, for six years. Brunello holds the top DOCG category.

It is warmer and drier here than in Chianti, so the wines are fuller and more powerful, with scents of cherry, leather and dry herbs. Vineyards lie on slopes around the town at different heights: the lower slopes are hotter, the upper ones cooler and fresher.

Younger wines from the same vineyards are released as Rosso di Montalcino. They are softer and cheaper. There is also the Sant'Antimo zone for other grapes and the sweet Moscadello di Montalcino from Muscat.

For comparison with its neighbours: to the north lies Chianti, to the east Montepulciano with its Nobile wine, and to the south the coastal Maremma, where wines are softer and lighter.