Pian dell'Orino Brunello di Montalcino Vigneti del Versante 2017

Pian dell'Orino sits, almost improbably, right next door to Biondi Santi — the estate credited with creating Brunello itself — and has quietly become one of the most respected names in Montalcino under owners Caroline Pobitzer and Jan Hendrik Erbach. Neither is a Tuscan native: Caroline grew up in South Tyrol, once the caretaker of a six-hundred-year-old vine, Europe's oldest and largest, at Castel Katzenzungen, while Jan trained formally in viticulture and oenology in Germany and France. Together they've farmed their six hectares organically since taking over, and biodynamically since 2003. "Vigneti del Versante" — literally "vineyards of the slope" — is their estate-tier Brunello, blended from several parcels, chiefly Cancello Rosso and the lower reaches of Pian Bassolino, grown across a patchwork of marl, clay, and volcanic soils. In the cellar the wine is hand-harvested, fermented spontaneously with extended maceration, matured in large oak for two to three years, then rested a further year in bottle before release — all unfiltered and unfined.

The result is Sangiovese of real finesse: dusty florals, rosemary, sage, clove, and leather give way to dried strawberry and kirsch, with hints of licorice and blood orange emerging as the wine opens. The palate is silky and precise rather than powerful, with sweet, fine-grained tannins, vibrant acidity, and a long, elegant finish that critics have repeatedly singled out as spellbinding.