Montalcino Report

Il Poggione Farmhouse

A few years ago, we decided to restructure a classic old "casa colonica" or rustic house on Il Poggione's property. We are really proud of this project and how it allows our guests to experience what it's like to live in the Montalcino countryside. The Italian word "agriturismo" means "farm tourism". Over the last two decades, it has become very popular in Italy visiting and staying at farmhouses, eating and drinking local products. When you visit the Poggione "agriturismo", you experience really what it is like to live in Tuscany. Enjoy.

In the heart of the Orcia River Valley, just a few kilometers from Montalcino, you can find places that seem to be stopped in time. Small villages, surrounded by medieval walls, hills planted to vine and to olive trees, Romanic churches of unmatched beauty. Here in Sant'Angelo in Colle, in the heart of the Poggione estate, you will find the Poggione Farmhouse (pictured above), a classic "casa colonica" or "country house" that we have completely remodeled. The Poggione Farmhouse ("agriturismo" in Italian) offers guests seven individual apartments, each with every modern amenity. Here, guests experience the pleasures of the Montalcino countryside during strolls through the vineyards, tasting a glass of Brunello di Montalcino in the shade of an olive tree, or relaxing by the pool and admiring one of the most beautiful views in all of Tuscany. Upon request (depending on availability), it is possible to organize a number of activities, including a tour of the Poggione winery, wine tastings, country hiking, visits to Montalcino, Siena, and many other medieval hilltop villages. Come see what the Poggione Farmhouse as to offer: a magical place surrounded by vineyards, where you can forget the stress of everyday life and enjoy the peace and tranquility of the Tuscan countryside.

Me on TV!

The Lifford Wine Agency produced this video of me in Canada, where I traveled recently to pour Il Poggione.

Veraison (August 1)

Temperatures are reaching 36-37° C. during the day and then descent to 20-22° C. during the night. The vines are healthy and they had almost complete dthe veraison or "invaiatura" in Italian by August 1, as you can see in the photo. If the weather does not play any nasty tricks on us, we have all the right conditions for an excellent vintage. Veraison is the part of the growing cycle where the grapes change color. As you can see in the post on the "Green Harvest" below, the grapes were still green in the last week of July.

The photo above was taken on August 1.

Green harvest (last week of July)

Here's a photo from our "Green Harvest". We do this on every vineyard at the end of July, cutting a number of grape bunches per vines before the veraison in order to concentrate the energy of the vines to ripen the few remaining ones. We do not mind the reduction of the yield because we want very high quality in production.

Tomorrow I'll post some photos of the veraison called the "invaiatura" to show the ripening of the grapes.

The oldest bottle of Brunello in our cellar

I went down to the cellar the other day at Il Poggione and took this photo of the oldest bottle labeled "Brunello" in our library. Today, our estate is known as Il Poggione but in the 1930s, the labels read Franceschi after the family name of the owners.

The first bottle of Brunello

Reader Bruno wrote to me asking "What was then the first brunello year produced at Il Poggione?"

The first wine labeled as "Brunello di Montalcino" at Il Poggione is from the 1965 vintage. That was the year the appellation and the DOC was officially created.

But we also still have bottles going back to the 1930s that say ""Vino Rosso dai Vigneti di Brunello" or "Red Wine from Brunello Vineyards" on the label.

Sangiovese has been grown at Il Poggione since the late 19th century and probably before that as well.

Thanks for your question Bruno!

Weather report: an excellent vintage is expected

Days are warm, but not excessively so. Average high temperatures of 85° F. Temperatures change markedly between day and night, with nighttime temperatures dropping to 60° F.

Good ventilation, as always. Last month's rains have left a reserve of water in the earth that will allow the vines to continue to ripen well through the end of August.

All factors continue to point to an excellent vintage.

Sangiovese: a little bit of history

The earliest known reference to Sangiovese grape variety is found in "La coltivazione delle viti", Soderini's treatment of grape growing published in 1590. He makes mention of a grape called Sangiogheto and praises it for its productivity. Trinci also praised it in 1738 in "Agricoltore sperimentato" and Gallesio devotes an entire chapter to Sangiovese in his "Pomona italiana" published in 1830. No one knows the origin of the grape name but many believe that it comes from the Toscana dialect, "Sarzana", meaning "Sangiovannina", a term used to denote early-ripening grapes. Sangiovese is grown throughout Italy and it is believed that 11% of hectares under vine in our country are planted to Sangiovese. Brunello di Montalcino has been made from 100% Sangiovese grosso (also known as Brunello) since the 1880s. The Sangiovese grosso clone of Sangiovese has berries that are larger than most clones of Sangiovese. Il Poggione is one of the original producers of Brunello.

"Mixed" or "promiscuous" farming

At Il Poggione, we believe in "mixed" or "promiscuous" farming ("promiscuo" in Italian). We feel that it is important for different types of crops to co-exist side-by-side with our vineyards and that livestock should also be bred on the estate. In our opinion, this is a very important element in the "terroir" of Brunello di Montalcino. Many producers plant vines wherever they can but we feel that traditional grains (that we use to feed our livestock) and olive trees should also be considered a indispensable part of the winemaking process. The olive tree above is a 200-years-old olive tree that lies not far from Il Poggione's oldest vineyard of Sangiovese, our top cru, I Paganelli. This ancient tree still bears fruit that is used to make Il Poggione extra-virgin olive oil.

Agricultural minister's Press Release on Brunello

On Friday, Agricultural Minister of Italy Luca Zaia (left) sent us a press release in English about the Ministry's recent decree which appointed to ICQ to control Brunello for export and his synthesis of the controversy. You can download the documents by clicking on the links below.

Download decreto_inglese.pdf

Download scheda_tappe_inglese.pdf