At fourteen years old this is Brunello arriving at the good part: tannins resolved, fruit turned savory, the whole thing drinking rather than promising. Jan Erbach and Caroline Pobitzer are outsiders in an ancient place — he's German, she's from Alto Adige — and they have farmed their six hectares next to Biondi-Santi's Il Greppo biodynamically since 2003, among the first in Montalcino to do so. Versante means the slope, and the wine comes from sections of the Pian Bassolino and Cancello Rosso vineyards at roughly 340 to 390 meters, one on continental conglomerate and clay, the other on iron-rich red earth; fermentation runs on native yeasts and the wine is raised in large Stockinger casks. 2012 was a hot, dry summer in Tuscany with temperatures pushing 38°C, until late-August rain unblocked the ripening and pulled harvest back to a normal mid-to-late September; yields were small and the wines came out concentrated but balanced. This bottle reached us from a private cellar rather than the winery. Open it over a long dinner now, or give it a few more years.