Il Marroneto

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If there’s a region of Italy where fame and greatness often exist on different planes, it’s Montalcino. There’s no greater evidence of this than the wild disconnect between the extent to which the Il Marroneto name is worshipped by insiders and the fact that the estate is not at all well-known by the public. Il Marroneto is, after all, the property that Antonio Galloni once called “the single most important yet under-the-radar estate in all of Montalcino. As for Il Marroneto flying under the radar, that's about to end. With utterly singular wines that transcend variety and appellation, Il Marroneto is finally parlaying its elite status in Italy into a global market following.”

Il Marroneto was founded in 1974 by Giuseppe Mori on the cool, steep slopes just north of Montalcino, the sector that boasts many of the region’s most elegant Brunellos.

The timing of Il Marroneto’s founding placed Giuseppe firmly in Brunello’s second wave of producers who established estates before the Brunello boom of the 1980s and 1990s. Along with Gianfranco Soldera and Cerbaiona’s Diego Molinari, these pioneers launched their estates despite the pittance that Brunello sold for at the time.

The first Marroneto vines went into the ground on the estate’s steep 400-meter elevation galestro clay and sand slopes in 1975, followed by subsequent plantings in 1977, 1982 and 1983. Giuseppe's son Alessandro joined him in time for the 1980 vintage, the first to be bottled. Long before it was fashionable, Alessandro eschewed the usage of artificial fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides in his vineyards.

Father and son were aided in their early efforts by two of Montalcino’s legendary names, first Mario Cortevesio and then his best friend, Giulio Gambelli. Giuseppe was close friends with the two “Sangiovese Whisperers,” and he adopted their distinctly traditional philosophies at Il Marroneto.

By 1990, Alessandro was ready to forge his own path for the estate’s wines, but he never forgot Gambelli’s imperative to “listen to the wine.” Over the years, Alessandro has adapted his winemaking incrementally to realize each wine’s unique identity more fully.

Extended fermentations, long macerations and lengthy maturation in large format barrels are the norm at Marroneto. These hands-off methods ensure greater transparency of site and allow for excellent structure in each wine Il Marroneto produces, from its entry-level wines to its top cuvée.