Uses a clone owned by Biondi Santi
Cerbaina is located in an area called Cerbaia, about 4 km southeast of the town of Montalcino in the province of Siena, and about 15 minutes by car east of Biondi Santi, known as the originator of Brunello di Montalcino. Cerbaia has been known as a plantation since the 14th century, and the peasants who originally lived here had been producing olive oil and wine since ancient times. As time progressed, several wineries were built in the vicinity of Cerbaia, the most famous of which was the plantation that later became Cerbaiola, built in the late 18th century. In fact, until the mid-19th century, Cerbaiona and Cerbaiola were separate parts of plantations owned by one family. In the late 19th century, each winery acquired different owners and became separate wineries. Cerbaiona has been owned by Diego Molinari since 1977. A former Alitalia pilot with a 25-year career, he has a passion for wine that is stronger than most, and decided to move to Montalcino upon retirement. When he first purchased the winery, he had a lot of passion, but because he came from a different industry, he had no knowledge of winemaking. However, he did not want to hire a winemaker from elsewhere, so he first scoured related books and visited many wineries to gain a deep understanding of the cultivation and brewing processes. Among them, he was most influenced by Biondi Santi, whose approach to respecting tradition particularly resonated with him. Therefore, during the first planting in 1977, Diego used a clone owned by Biondi Santi called BBS11 (Brunello Biondi Santi, vine no. 11), and using grapes from this vineyard he produced the first Brunello in 1981. was released.
I want people to enjoy the essential beauty and preciousness of wine with pure curiosity.
Meanwhile, Cerbaiola, owned by Giulio Salvioni, released its first Brunello in 1985. Giulio says, ``The person who encouraged me to plant grapes was none other than Diego.In 1985, an unusually cold wave destroyed the olive trees that had been planted for generations in Cerbaiola, but Diego's advice helped me... Thanks to that, I decided to plant grapes.'' Cerbaiona currently owns a 4ha field. The altitude is approximately 350 to 400 meters above sea level, and the plots are divided into three main areas depending on the year the grapes were planted (1977, 1986, and 2000). The soil is composed of marl, a type of marl unique to Tuscany, called galestro. The grapes are grown organically, and the wine is brewed in open wooden fermentation tanks of different sizes: 15hl, 25hl, and 30hl. Natural alcoholic fermentation using natural yeast. Remontage is kept to a minimum to avoid excessive extraction, and the fruit clusters are hand-pigeaged. Malolactic fermentation is carried out in the same container and left in contact with the lees until the following spring. The wine is then transferred to large Slavonian oak barrels of 10hl, 17hl, and 20hl, and aged for 12 months for Rosso and 30 months for Brunello, exceeding the regulations. At Cerbaiona, we not only select the grapes at harvest, but also select each barrel in the cellar. With a strict quality policy that would downgrade everything if the quality was not satisfactory, the winery quickly rose to stardom within a few decades after purchasing it. In addition, due to its extremely high rarity, with a total annual production of 20,000 bottles, it has established itself as a cult Brunello. However, due to poor health, Diego decided to sell the winery at the end of 2014. Soon after, in 2015, investor Gary Riechel and former Biondi Santi consultant Matthew Fioretti purchased Cerbaiona. In February 2017, the winery under its new system wrote a letter to journalists stating, ``We prohibit any scoring or reviews of our wines.'' He threw a stone. It can be said that the idea of enjoying wine's essential beauty and preciousness with pure curiosity, rather than evaluation, is a sure inheriting of Diego's will to respect tradition. There is no doubt that they will continue to be the top producer of Brunello di Montalcino.
