2012 Brunello di Montalcino

Cerbaiona was bought in the fall of 2015 by a large group of friends led by Gary Rieschel and Matthew Fioretti. The latter was the owner of Summa Vitis, a US wine import company, which he closed in 2009 in order to fulfill his dream of being a full-time wine producer. Fioretti couldn’t have been any happier when Cerbaiona, one of Montalcino’s most admired estates, came up for sale. Reportedly, the group paid an astronomical 5.8 million euros for the property, which has made some of Montalcino’s most sought after Brunellos in the last twenty years. However, anyone visiting the estate didn’t have any trouble realizing that the failing health and increasing age of owners Diego and Nora Molinari had led to a slightly rundown feel at the winery and that work was needed in the vineyards too (the day I visited, Fioretti greeted me in work clothes as he had been busy working in the vineyards up until that moment). The estate has replanted another 1.4 hectares Sangiovese (sourced from France’s famous Guillaume nursery) to add to the three hectares it currently owns. Fioretti has also bought some new barrels, and is looking to use 10, 17 and 20 Hl oak barrels (Molinari used to use smaller 500L tonneaux). Looking ahead, Cerbaiona does not plan to release any Brunello, just Rosso di Montalcino, in the difficult 2014 vintage, but is also hoping to perhaps one day release two different cru bottlings from estate vines located at lower and higher altitudes that give very different wines.