Le Chiuse has a perfect pedigree. Their vineyards were key Biondi-Santi holdings since before Ferrucio Biondi-Santi created Brunello di Montalcino. In fact, when Simonetta Valiani (Ferrucio’s great-granddaughter) inherited the land, the vines were rented to... Read More

Le Chiuse has a perfect pedigree. Their vineyards were key Biondi-Santi holdings since before Ferrucio Biondi-Santi created Brunello di Montalcino. In fact, when Simonetta Valiani (Ferrucio’s great-granddaughter) inherited the land, the vines were rented to her uncle who put the fruit in Biondi-Santi’s Riserva.

Even the fruit has pedigree. It's not just any old Sangiovese Grosso (Brunello’s special and mandatory clone of Sangiovese), but a special clone that Tancredi Biondi-Santi selected for the site (BS 11, if you want the details). And what a site: hillside land between 1,000 and 1,600 feet asl, with complex, rocky soils (lots of marine fossils) separated by clay striations.

Simonetta and family (her son, Lorenzo Magnelli, is the winemaker now) farm this terroir organically. They are even certified. The winemaking is traditional, as you would expect. They harvest by hand, ferment on indigenous yeasts, and age in large Slovenian oak casks.