2006 Brunello di Montalcino, San Giuseppe, Stella di Campalto, Tuscany, Italy

A black grape widely grown in Central Italy and the main component of Chianti and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano as well as being the sole permitted grape for the famed Brunello di Montalcino.

Along with Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino is Tuscany's most famous DOCG and its boldest expression of the Sangiovese grape. Located 30 miles south of Siena, its 2,000 hectares of vines are hemmed in by the Orcia, Asso and Ombrone valleys. Brunello is the local name for the Sangiovese Grosso clone from which Brunello di Montalcino should be made in its entirety. The wine cannot be released for sale until five years after the harvest.

Run by the talented Stella di Campalto, the 6 hectare San Giuseppe wine estate in Castelnuovo dell'Abate, is strewn with several soil types (volcanic, iron-rich, galestro, clay...). It was originally planted in 1992, became organic in 1996 and  then biodynamic in 2002. Great attention is paid to harvesting the parcels of vines separately in order to capture the maximum fruit quality and soil expression, using gravity and a combination of large 38hl Austrian oak barrels and French oak barriques to vinify the juice as gently as possible. All her fruit qualifies as Brunello di Montalcino, yet in 2003 she chose to declassify everything to Rosso di Montalcino; her inaugural Brunello has been released in 2009 for the 2004 vintage.