Podere Salicutti - Brunello di Montalcino - Piaggione 2018

Podere Salicutti was founded in 1990 by Francesco Leanza, a chemical engineer of Sicilian origin, who planted the first vines in 1994 and, beginning in 1996, made the estate the first certified organic estate in Montalcino. Today, the estate is managed with the utmost care by Felix and Sabine Eichbauer—Munich-based restaurateurs from the legendary Tantris family—who are continuing the estate’s transition to biodynamic farming while respecting the natural rhythm of the land.

The 11-hectare estate, including 4.5 hectares of Sangiovese, spans three adjacent parcels southeast of Montalcino, each named to symbolize the characteristics of the terroir: Teatro (Roman theater), Sorgente (spring garden), and Piaggione (steep hillside). Piaggione, the smallest of the three at just 1.2 hectares, is located at an elevation of 420 to 450 meters on fossil-rich limestone soils facing east-southeast. The grapes are harvested by hand; fermentation occurs spontaneously with native yeasts in stainless steel tanks, followed by maceration for 12 to 21 days and then aging for 33 months in French and Slavonian oak casks.

The result is a Brunello with a generous and elegant personality, regarded by international critics as one of the purest expressions of Montalcino Sangiovese.