1973 Brunello di Montalcino

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.