Date of visit: June 16, 2022
About The Producer
In the late 1960s, Gianfranco Soldera, a successful insurance broker from Milan, set out to produce one of the greatest wines in the world. He began searching for the perfect plot of land to cultivate vines on, which proved to be a lengthy and exhaustive process. After years of searching relentlessly, Gianfranco discovered Case Basse in Montalcino in 1972. At the time, this 23 hectare plot was completely abandoned, and was without vineyards. Gianfranco saw right past this, and recognized this was an ideal site where Sangiovese would thrive. Located at 320 meters above sea level, with hilly terrain, southwest exposure, and well draining volcanic soil, Gianfranco and his wife Graziella had found the perfect site, and began planting vines between 1972 and 1973.
After purchasing the estate, Gianfranco and Graziella began creating “The Case Basse Ecosystem”. Graziella planted a two hectare (five acre) botanical garden, which is home to over 1,500 rose varieties. The two of them constructed man-made birds nests, bee hives, and a lake which created a home for bees, birds, frogs, insects, and other wildlife. They planted olive trees, fruit trees, and berry bushes, and left eight hectares (20 acres) of oak trees which are hundreds of years old undisturbed. All of these efforts created an incredibly well balanced ecosystem with excellent biodiversity. This environment has elevated the health and quality of their Sangiovese vines to arguably some of the highest levels seen anywhere in the world, and allows them to farm without herbicides and pesticides.
Case Basse’s first vintage was 1975, and their first Brunello di Montalcino vintage was 1977. Brunello di Montalcino was produced until 2006, and in some years a Riserva was made. Over the years, the estate has also produced a few vintages of Rosso di Montalcino and vino da tavola. Since 2006 Case Basse has made the decision to label Soldera as an IGT, rather than Brunello di Montalcino, though the wine has always been produced in accordance to all the rules and regulations that must be followed when producing Brunello di Montalcino, and is for all intents and purposes Brunello di Montalcino. The most recent vintage currently available to the market is 2017, just over 11,000 bottles were produced.
Gianfranco Soldera had always believed in order to produce exceptional wine it’s essential to invest in research. Sensors monitoring all different data can be found in the vineyards and cellar and are part of the “Soldera Intelligent System”. Data from the system can be viewed remotely and has been made available to researchers all over the world. Case Basse conducts microbiological analysis on the grapes growing in their vineyards at various stages of their life, again when grape juice is fermenting on a daily basis, and again when the wine is aging in casks. In addition to this, must temperature is monitored every 10 minutes. Interestingly, despite the heavy use of science and technology, winemaking at Case Basse is conducted in a very traditional manner. They use the findings from their research to guide their decisions, but intervention in the vineyards and cellar is minimal. For example, Case Basse uses frequent pump overs during fermentation, which is a fairly traditional practice, one of the reasons they monitor grape must temperatures is to help them decide when to pump over. In the vineyards, Case Basse has implemented the use of sensors which are buried deep below the vines to monitor moisture in the soil, to help guide decisions in the vineyard and cellar, but irrigation is never used.
On December 2, 2012, Case Basse was victim to of one of the most devastating crimes to ever be committed in the world of wine. A previous disgruntled employee of the estate broke in during the night and opened the taps to ten casks of wine. As a result, the estate lost nearly all their wine from 2007-2012, and because of aging requirements, they had hardly any wine left to sell for the next six years. This horrific act sent shockwaves throughout the world of wine, which can still be felt today. Thankfully, the person who committed this crime has been sentenced to jail time, however, their actions can never be undone, and that wine which was destroyed can never be replaced.
On February 16, 2019, Gianfranco passed away, he was 82 years old. Gianfranco was known for being one of the most ruthless, outspoken defenders of traditional winemaking methods for Brunello di Montalcino, and he did everything in his power to ensure that Brunello di Montalcino remains a wine which is made from 100% Sangiovese, and follows all the rules and regulations that we have today around aging requirements, and other production rules. Graziella, along with their children, son-in-law and daughter-in-law; Monica and Paolo, and Mauro and Valeria, are committed to carrying out the incredible legacy which Gianfranco left behind. Just like Gianfranco, this incredible team is always striving to further elevate quality.
Our Visit to Case Basse
We arrived at Case Basse completely in awe. For wine lovers like us, this was a truly surreal experience.
We were greeted by Paola Banchi, the Sales and Marketing Advisor for the estate, who’d generously agreed to give us a tour. Paola shared with us some of the technical production details of the estate. Today Case Basse has 10 hectares which are under vine. Average production is 15k bottles per year, but they’ve been known to drastically reduce production during challenging vintages. Harvest is always completed by hand. After harvesting the grapes, they’re then carefully sorted by hand. The selection of grapes is rigorous, each berry is inspected one by one, and only the best ones are used. Fermentation is always spontaneous, without temperature control, in large Slavonian oak vats, with frequent pump overs. Wines aren’t filtered and are only racked when necessary, and only small amounts of sulfur are added.
Paola began by walking us through Graziella’s botanical garden, which dazzled the senses. The aromas, sounds, and of course visual beauty was all breathtaking.
We walked back towards the main building, and were introduced to Paolo, Monica’s husband and Gianfranco’s son-in-law who began working with Gianfranco in 2003, and who’s been the winemaker at the estate since Gianfrancos’ passing. We also met one of the vineyard managers, who’s one of the newer members of the team. We followed everyone inside, and began the tour of the cellar.
The cellar at Case Basse is unlike anything we’ve ever seen, and that’s because there really is nothing else like it anywhere in the world. The cellar was designed by Gianfranco Soldera himself, and consists of three levels. The first level is for destemming and bottling, the level beneath this holds large wooden vats where the wine ferments, and the third level down, located 14 meters beneath the ground, is where the wine ages. This lowest level was constructed exclusively from natural materials; stone and iron. Gianfranco chose these materials because he felt that air exchange is incredibly important, and these natural materials breathe, and promote air circulation. The cellar is outfitted with a ventilation system which constantly circulates air in and out of the cellar, pulling air into the cellar from beneath the vines. When we stepped into the cellar, it smelled incredibly fresh with no foreign sensations whatsoever. The temperature in the cellar is kept at 13 °C (55 °F), and humidity at 85%. Barrels are made of Slavonian oak by renowned cooper Garbellotto, from trees which are 200-300 years old. Trees are grown in a climate with extreme diurnals and produce wood which is extremely hard.
Tasting Notes
Once the tour was complete, we had the chance to taste a couple of the wines from cask. Our notes are below.
2018 Soldera (from barrel): The nose is floral and pronounced, filled with aromas of roses, crushed cherries, wet stone, leather, strawberries, and a hint of licorice, all of which carry over to the palate. Very fresh, with soaring acidity, silky velvety, ultrafine tannins, and impeccable balance. This wine will be bottled in a few weeks, and approximately 11,000 bottles will be produced. Already drinking beautifully, with a very long life ahead of it.
2020 Soldera (from barrel): Aromas of cherries, roses, and peonies rise from the glass. The palate is still quite austere because of its young age, and is filled with soaring acidity, and flavors of cherry pits, peonies, and rosemary. This is already drinking very nicely, and shows tremendous promise. We look forward to hopefully tasting this again in the near future once bottled. Paola explained that 2019 was the first vintage that Paolo produced without the assistance of Gianfranco, and therefore these more recent vintages are quite emotional for the estate, and especially Paolo.
Thank you
Thank you, Paola, Paolo, and the entire team at Case Basse who made this rare, and very special visit possible. Thank you for generously spending so much time with us, teaching us about your incredible wine and history, and for sharing your amazing wine with us. This was truly a visit we will never forget. We hope to see you again in the near future. Grazie mille!