Rosso di Montalcino DOC was created in 1984 to solve a practical problem. Brunello imposes a five-year wait, and estates needed a wine that generated cash flow and gave a home to fruit not destined for the senior bottle. Hence a parallel appellation: same territory, same grape at 100 per cent, but a single year of aging.
What goes into the Rosso varies from estate to estate, and that is precisely what makes it interesting. It may be the younger vines, the less favoured parcels, or lots of Brunello declassified in a difficult vintage. In every case it is the same hands and the same technical decisions, without five years of wood and bottle in the way.
The result is a more direct Sangiovese, bright in red fruit, slimmer in tannin, made to drink within three or four years. For anyone wanting to know whether they like a producer's style before committing to an expensive bottle there is no better tool — and in Montalcino the price gap between the two wines is often threefold or fourfold.
