2018 Poggio di Sotto Rosso di Montalcino 750 ml

The legendary Montalcino producer Poggio di Sotto inspires furious demand among collectors, and they’ve never made better wines than they are right now:  Wine Advocate called their new releases “a new benchmark for the region.”

While their $200+ Brunello certainly gets most of the attention, Poggio di Sotto’s Rosso di Montalcino is basically a Brunello in all but name—it’s better than most Brunellos under $100. It’s sourced from the same vines as Poggio di Sotto’s $200+ Brunello and given a similar 30+ day maceration, and Wine Advocate gave the 2018 a 95-point review, coming to this conclusion: “It's just stunning.” 

Poggio di Sotto doesn’t have the long history of some other estates in Brunello, but they’ve been one of the most important names in the region practically since Piero Palmucci purchased his property overlooking the Orcia River valley in 1989.

At a time when many Tuscan producers were rushing to embrace international varieties, Piero devoted his estate solely to Sangiovese. He worked with researchers at the University of Milan to select the ideal biotypes of the grape for his vineyards—which were planted at three different altitudes to help build complexity and manage vintage variation.

Piero sold Poggio di Sotto to my friend Claudio Tipa in 2011, and he has done nothing but build on the legacy of the estate. The farming is still organic—and as the Wine Advocate alluded to earlier, the attention to detail in the cellar these days has elevated the wines even further. There’s a reason that MICHELIN-three-stars like The French Laundry are able to charge over $800 for the current-release Brunello—Poggio di Sotto is a best-in-class producer.