The Producer
The history of Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona dates back to the 17th century, when bishop of Montalcino and abbot of Sant’Antimo, Fabivs de’ Vecchis, constructed the Palazzo del Vescovo in Castelnuovo dell’Abate. After his passing, ownership of the palazzo and the surrounding land transferred to the diocese of Montalcino, and was auctioned off in 1868. Countess Eva Bernini Cerretani purchased the property at auction, and later sold it to Francesco Ciacci in 1877. Francesco’s daughter, Elda Ciacci went on to marry Count Alberto Piccolomini d’Aragona, and passed away in 1985. The Countess had no direct heirs, and therefore left the estate to her property manager, Giuseppe Bianchini.
Upon inheriting the estate, Giuseppe looked to increase the quality of Brunello production, and in order to do so, sold approximately half the estate’s land, and replanted the best vineyards in 1986 and 1990. Early on, Giuseppe recognized the exceptional quality of the Pianrosso vineyard, and chose to vinify and bottle these vines separately under the label “Brunello di Montalcino Pianrosso”.
Giuseppe passed away in 2004 and responsibilities passed to his children, Paolo, who’s in charge of winemaking, and Lucia, who’s in charge of administration and accounting. Paolo and Lucia share their father’s quality focused mindset, and are determined to elevate quality even higher. Under their leadership the estate has taken steps to help protect consumers against wine fraud which is unfortunately becoming increasingly common. To do so, they’ve implemented the use of holograms on the wine’s capsules and incorporated the use of “Certilogo”, a scannable code on the bottles which verify the wine’s authenticity via an online platform.
In the vineyards, grapes are only picked when they’re perfectly mature, even if these means harvesting the same vineyard multiple times. In the cellars, maceration and fermentation times are long, and take place in both glass-lined cement tanks and stainless steel with temperature control. Aging is done in botti between 20-85 hectoliters in size. The famous Paolo Vagaggini, who’s been recognized as one of the greatest winemakers in the world, is the consulting enologist at Ciacci.
Technical Info
Vineyard Site: Pianrosso Subzone: Castelnuovo dell’Abate Comune: Montalcino Province: Siena Region: Tuscany Altitude: 240-360 meters above sea level Sun Exposure: Southwest Varietal Composition: 100% Sangiovese Harvest: Harvested and sorted by hand Vinification: In glass-lined cement tanks and stainless steel with temperature control Aging: Approximately 3 years in 20-62 hl Slavonian oak botti, with an additional 8 months spent in bottle
Tasting Notes
Appearance: Deep, concentrated, brick red with a hint of brown shading. Visually appears younger than it actually is.
Aromas: Tart red fruit leads on the nose and gives way to plums, cherries, pomegranates, dried figs, and chestnuts, with whispers of prunes and walnuts. Smells younger than a wine that’s roughly 24 years old.
Palate: Crushed, juicy, tart, red cherries along with some baking spices, dried figs, chestnuts, caramelized pears and anise, which gradually fade after a few moments and give way to a hint of walnuts. Soaring acidity, with perfectly integrated, fine grained, teeth coating tannins. Bright, vibrant, focused, complex, and extremely well balanced, with a persistent finish. Delicious, with plenty of life left in it, tastes much younger than it actually is.
Notes: Popped and poured, didn’t decant, and was fantastic right off that bat, but really came alive after being open for approximately 3 hours. Paired beautifully with grilled bone-in ribeye steak, and cave aged Gruyère and Parmigiano Reggiano scalloped potatoes. This wine is showing absolutely outstanding right now, and is perhaps our favorite expression of Brunello that we’ve tried. This wine is likely at peak, but will maintain nicely for the next 5-7 years.
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