Vino Nobile di Montepulciano: An Unstoppable Force

BY ERIC GUIDO | FEBRUARY 04, 2025

Montepulciano has everything going for it. Just across the Val d’Orcia from Montalcino, 45 minutes by car, the town of Montepulciano is one of my favorite destinations. If I weren’t a wine critic, I’d certainly love to be a tourist in this town with its restaurants, dining and many hotels. The vineyards spread out primarily to the north and east of the city, with wineries within an easy five- to ten-minute drive from its fortified walls. Although geographically close to the Tyrrhenian Sea, Montepulciano's climate is more strongly influenced by the Apennines and cooling currents from the north. Though Vino Nobile di Montepulciano was one of Italy’s very first DOCG wines, today’s wineries still strive to live up to the hype following years of being considered the underdog. They are doing just that. Recent vintages have helped more than hurt, with 2021 and 2022 delivering very different yet balanced interpretations of a warm and dry Tuscan growing season. What’s more, this year's release of the new Pieve wines has everyone, me included, very excited. If it wasn’t for the nearly non-existent 2023 vintage, producers in Montepulciano would be sitting pretty.

The Pieve Cervognano as seen from Le Bèrne Winery.

The State of Montepulciano

The growing number of wines I cover in each report on Montepulciano clearly demonstrates the drastic improvements the region’s winemakers are achieving. This is the result of wineries that have existed throughout the decades catching on to the changes in consumers' taste, the importance of putting the proper amount of work into their vineyards, and the cleanliness of their practices in the cellar. The cumulative effect is that there has never been more high-quality wine coming out of the town of Montepulciano than there is today. That’s not to say that there isn’t more work to do. I’m still surprised by some of the poor conditions I see (rotting old barrels, built-up debris and dirty equipment) at several estates. But I believe it’s only so long before the stragglers catch up. 

Moreover, a focus on purity and lift has elevated these wines. There was a time when I regarded Vino Nobile di Montepulciano as a rounder, more fruit-forward, less complex interpretation of Sangiovese. Much of this had to do with the blending rules, allowing up to 30% of international varieties into the mix, often in the form of a dose of Merlot. Today, winemakers depend on the indigenous varieties of Tuscany (such as Canaiolo, Colorino and Mammolo) to round out the wines, and these often make up no more than 10-15% of the blends. This, coupled with a lighter hand in the cellar (less extraction, less new oak and the use of larger barrels), has changed the game, yielding modern wines that can compete internationally with the best that Tuscany has to offer. 

That said, there are still challenges. Messaging remains an issue. Montepulciano struggles due to its name. While the town of Montepulciano is one of the most historic, beautiful and tourist-friendly in all of Italy, it also bears the same name as one of Italy’s most popular wines, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. The region has worked to separate itself from this confusion, often by manipulating the name of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, so we find wines in the market labeled Nobile di Montepulciano, Vino Nobile, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, or simply Nobile. The mass confusion this causes among consumers is evident. The addition of “Toscana” to the label of all Vino Nobile as of 2019 is a step in the right direction. That designation will help consumers grasp the wines’ origins but doesn’t solve the problem entirely. The sheer amount of verbiage on a label from Montepulciano has become an issue, especially now with the addition of the Pieve classification. The good news is that the Consorzio del Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is fully aware of this issue and is constantly at work to devise a solution. I hope to see the Consorzio decide on a shortened version of the name and ensure that it is uniform across the entire region.