More about Canalicchio di Sopra

Canalicchio di Sopra is the north side of Montalcino in a bottle: two contrasting crus, cooler slopes, and Brunello with tension and silky tannins rather than brute power. It's one of the area's most respected traditional estates, and a family affair from the start.

Primo Pacenti founded the estate in 1962 and was one of the twelve founders of the Brunello di Montalcino Consorzio in 1967. His son-in-law Pier Luigi Ripaccioli followed, and today his grandchildren Francesco, Marco and Simonetta run things, with Francesco in the cellar and Marco in the vineyards.

They farm about 19 hectares of Sangiovese, and only Sangiovese, in two places. The Canalicchio cru around the winery sits at roughly 280 to 320 meters on mineral-rich clay. Montosoli, the famous neighboring hill, sits lower on lime-rich marl and galestro and brings structure, minerality and sapidity. The straight Brunello usually blends the two, while single-vineyard bottlings from Montosoli and La Casaccia show each side on its own. Fermentation is in stainless steel and aging in large, older casks, so the oak never gets in the way.

The Rosso is the early-drinking way in; the Brunellos reward a decade or more in the cellar.