Podere Scopetone

This is one of my favorite estates in all of Montalcino, if for nothing other than their unique, extremely perfumed Brunello, an essence of combined minerals, citrus zest, violet, and strawberry juice. Certainly I cannot think, off the top of my head, of a more refined Brunello in all of Montalcino. Scopetone’s almost steely, floral personality really is a singular but memorable expression of Sangiovese. The winery was founded in 1978 by Federigo Abbarchi, a Milanese pilot, and the estate has been blessed with amazingly talented viticultural and winemaking help right from the start. Attilio Pagli and Giulio Gambelli were at the helm at the beginning and made the estate’s first wines in the 1980s. Of course, owning great Sangiovese vines with which to make your wine is no small help either, and the location of Scopetone’s Scarnacuoia holding (at about 400-500 meters just below the town of Montalcino and overlooking Montosoli) is one of Montalcino’s greatest Sangiovese sites and, not unimportantly, historically famous for being the location of Ferruccio Biondi Santi’s first Sangiovese planting in the 1870s. Today, Scopetone is owned by Loredana Tanganelli and her husband Antonio Brandi, who first partnered with Federigo’s widow, Angela Abbarchi. (Federigo died suddenly in 2009.) The two are helped out by winemaker Maurizio Castelli, who in my opinion probably understands and knows Sangiovese better than anyone in Italy (and the outstanding top-class Brunellos he helps fashion at estates like Piancornello and Le Ragnaie are but cases in point), and viticulturist Luca Felicioni. The estate built a new cellar in 2015 and owns 4.5 hectares of vines that it farms organically - 1.5 hectares of Sangiovese for the production of Brunello and 3 hectares of Sangiovese in Montecucco (Tuscan Maremma) - and makes only three wines, all outstanding: a Brunello di Montalcino, a Rosso di Montalcino and a Toscana IGT (also 100% Sangiovese made from the vineyards in Montecucco).