Il Poggione: Brunello di Montalcino 1967-2001 

Il Poggione is one of Montalcino’s historic wineries. The estate, which is owned by the Franceschi family, traces its lineage back over 100 years. Leopoldo Franceschi was one of the founders of the Brunello producers’ consortium, the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino, and also served as its first president. Today the Il Poggione is run by Franceschi’s grandson, also named Leopoldo.

I recently had a chance to sit down with Winemaker Fabrizio Bindocci to survey an incredible collection of the estate’s older vintages. Bindocci has spent more than 25 years at Il Poggione and learned his craft during the years he worked alongside Piero Talenti, widely recognized as one the leading winemakers in Italy of his era. He is also the fourth generation of his family to work for the Franceschis at Il Poggione, insuring a level of continuity that is practically unheard of in today’s day and age. To say Bindocci lives, eats and breathes these wines with extraordinary passion would be a massive understatement. The man has Sangiovese running through his veins. Bindocci has recently been joined by his son Alessandro, a graduate of the University of Pisa, who is being groomed to lead the estate in the future.

Il Poggione is located in Sant’Angelo in Colle, in a part of Montalcino known for its warm, yet well-ventilated micro-climate. In top vintages the wines are capable of extraordinary development in bottle. Even better, prices have remained very fair considering the quality of what is in the bottle.

This was a fascinating tasting, as the wines traced the arc of the estate’s development throughout the years and decades. It was interesting to observe how faithfully each wine captured the essence of the vintage, and perhaps even more importantly, how wines never really change, rather they develop. In other words, as they age ripe, fat wines from warm vintages and the more linear, structured wines typical of cooler, fresher years retain the unique qualities they showed as young wines.

The early vintages of the 1960s and 1970s were fermented in cement and aged in barrels made from a variety of woods, including oak, acacia and chestnut, each of which was known to impart different characteristics to the wines. The single biggest development was the introduction of modern temperature-controlled fermentation in the early 1980s, something which is clearly felt in the greater polish of the wines from that era. During the mid-1990s the estate moved towards a very traditional vinification method on one hand, and a greater use of French oak (especially for the Riserva) on the other hand. Today both Il Poggione Brunellos are aged in French oak casks.

Il Poggione’s 1967 Brunello di Montalcino is fully mature. It reveals superb balance in a beautiful expression of dark cherries, leather, spices and beef bouillon, with soft, resolved tannins and lovely balance. The wine was probably at peak a few years ago, but it is still wonderful to catch it in such great shape. The 1967 was made from the estate’s original and oldest vineyards. It was aged in casks made of mixed woods, as was the custom at the time. 91/Anticipated maturity: 2008. The estate’s 1973 Brunello di Montalcino presents a darker color along with fresher aromas and flavors. It is an intense, full-bodied Brunello packed with dark fruit, menthol, smoke and earthiness. With air it becomes sweeter and more generous on the palate as cocoa and spice flavors develop in the glass. This too offers superb length and surprising freshness on the finish. The 1973 is the first vintage to incorporate younger vineyards planted in 1964. 92/Anticipated maturity: 2008.

Simply put, Il Poggione’s 1975 Brunello di Montalcino is a blockbuster. 1975 was an extremely hot vintage. During this era alcohol levels were around 13.5% but in 1975 Il Poggione found itself with wines in excess of 16% so the estate blended in more wine than normal from its less well-exposed sites in order to bring down the alcohol in the final blend. Still, the 1975 Brunello comes in at a hefty 15%, which was practically unheard of at the time. This powerful, brawny wine is loaded with sweet ripe fruit, menthol and spices, yet amazingly it manages to preserve a degree of freshness as well. I am simply stunned by how gracefully this wine has aged. It is a drop dead gorgeous Brunello! 94/Anticipated maturity: 2008. One of the few disappointments from this tasting is the 1979 Brunello di Montalcino. It was a rainy vintage, and this fully mature wine is now well past peak, its best drinking days all but a memory. 80/Anticipated maturity: 2008.

The advent of modern-day winemaking technology is immediately evident in the stunning 1982 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva, arguably Il Poggione’s first truly classic wine. The color is clean, the aromas well-articulated and the wine focused, much like the Barolos of the same vintage. On this day the wine is at a glorious peak of expression. It reveals lovely clarity in its red cherries, tobacco, menthol and scorched earth. A model of restrained elegance, it possesses outstanding depth and long, ethereal finish.

Well-stored bottles will probably keep for another decade but I can’t imagine this Brunello will ever be better than it is today. The 1982 Riserva is a great effort from Il Poggione. 95/Anticipated maturity: 2008-2018. The 1985 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is a fat, powerful wine loaded with opulent, sweet fruit. While the 1985 doesn’t have the complexity or finesse of the 1982 it does offer terrific drinking in a full-bodied, fruit-driven style. Any remaining bottles are best enjoyed over the near-term, as the 1985 doesn’t appear to be built for the very long haul. The 1985 vintage saw a wet spring but a hot summer. It is amazing to observe that 23 years later the wine’s generous, giving personality is essentially unchanged. 93/Anticipated maturity: 2008-2013.

The estate’s 1988 Brunello di Montalcino is the first wine in this tasting that could be described as young.  It is a dramatic, sweeping Brunello with layers of flowers, spices and ripe fruit that emerge as the wine opens in the glass, showing outstanding persistence and tons of style. 1988 saw a rainy spring. The summer was hot, but not excessively so, and the balanced growing season appears to have yielded a similarly well-balanced, poised wine. With air, the 1988 is approachable today, but it is also capable of at least a further decade of aging. 94/Anticipated maturity: 2008-2018. The 1990 Brunello di Montalcino is another deeply-colored, massive wine. It is bigger and more powerful than the 1988 even if it doesn’t have that wine’s elegance. Nevertheless, it remains a compelling wine loaded with the essence of dark fruit, spices, menthol and earthiness. Sweet and long, with finessed, well-integrated tannins, it clearly has the stuffing to drink well for another decade. The 1990 was the first vintage to be partially aged in medium-size French oak casks, whereas in the past the estate had used Slavonian oak. 94/Anticipated maturity: 2008-2018.

 Il Poggione’s 1995 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is an awesome, vibrant wine loaded with dark cherries, smoke and earthiness. Still quite fresh and structured, it is clearly a wine that requires patience. The summer was warm that year but the vineyards were held in check by the well-ventilated nature of the local micro-climate. There was some rain in August, which then lowered temperatures for the rest of the growing season. The harvest took place later than normal. The 1995 was the first to be made with the cappello sommerso, or submerged cap, method that ironically has been used to make traditionally-styled Barolos and Barbarescos for several decades. 1995 was also the first vintage in which the Riserva was made exclusively from fruit sourced from the Paganelli vineyard, as it is today. 94/Anticipated maturity: 2015-2025. The 1997 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is a powerful yet sleek wine. Pretty aromas of smoke and earthiness lead to a ripe, vibrant expression of fruit. The wine shows tremendous depth and concentration, not to mention superb overall balance. Spring hail caused some damage in the vineyards and naturally limited yields. August saw some rain, but then September was warmer than normal. The 1997 has a lot of style, but Bindocci says 1999 is a better vintage. The 1997 was the first vintage of the Riserva to be aged in smaller 33 and 52 hectoliter French oak barrels made by Italian cooper Gamba. By this time Piero Talenti’s health issues had begun taking a toll and he was present only sporadically. 93/Anticipated maturity: 2008-2020.

 The 1999 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is still an infant. Fresh, perfumed violets, dark cherries, minerals, earthiness, mocha and spices flow from the glass as this full-bodied, intense wine gradually reveals its potential. The wine shows incredible detail for its size and despite being very closed down, it richness and depth are amply evident. The vintage saw cool weather all the way into the summer, with very little rain. Oenologist Piero Talenti, the estate’s guiding light, passed away in 1999 after having spent more than 50 years at the property. 95/Anticipated maturity: 2011-2029. Il Poggione’s 2001 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is likely to go down as one of the estate’s modern day classics. Like the 1999, it too is made in a full-bodied style, but it offers greater elegance and finesse than its older sibling. There is superb purity to this wine, not to mention an eternal finish framed by silky, ripe tannins. A minimum of a few years of cellaring is called for to allow the French oak to integrate. The vintage saw a rainy winter followed by a freakish April frost which reduced yields in several vineyards. 95/Anticipated maturity: 2011-2031.

 As a last minute surprise Bindocci poured three vintages of the estate’s Rosso di Montalcino, a wine he is extremely proud of. The 1985, 1990 and 1995 Rossos all showed the traits of their respective vintages, but in miniature. Although I typically prefer Rosso on the younger side there is no denying these wines have all aged gracefully. They were simply beautiful. 

--Antonio Galloni