2016 Pian dell'Orino Brunello di Montalcino

Pian dell’Orino is 15-acre estate in Montalcino. It is owned by Caroline Pobitzer and Jan Hendrik Erbach. Caroline grew up in northern Italy and Jan is an oenologist who was born and raised in Germany. Together they run the estate. The flagship wine is Brunello di Montalcino though Pian dell’Orino also makes a Rosso di Montalcino and Piandorino, a Sangiovese. Wine Advocate rated a recent vintage of the Brunello at 97 pts and wrote that “it is hard to imagine how much Jan Erbach and Caroline Pobitzer have accomplished in just a few years. Erbach and Pobitzer embody the same adventurous, risk-taking ethos one rarely sees in Montalcino, but which is much more common among top-flight, artisan growers in Burgundy, Piedmont and Champagne….”

Brunello di Montalcino is regarded as one of Italy’s best appellations. Located in south central Tuscany below Chianti, the wines of Brunello di Montalcino DOCG are made of a Sangiovese clone called “brunello,” which means “little dark one,” a reference to the brown tones in the skin of the grape. Unlike some Tuscan appellations that allow other grapes to be blended with Sangiovese, Brunello di Montalcino is entirely Sangiovese. Montalcino itself is a picturesque, hill-top town not especially well known for wine production until the mid-19th century, when a local vineyard owner isolated the brunello clone and planted it. Other growers followed suit. Nevertheless it wasn’t until 1970s that wine enthusiasts started paying attention to Brunello di Montalcino, which by then was becoming an outstanding wine. Today there are 120 estates in the DOCG, up from about 25 estates in 1975. Brunellos in general are bigger, darker, more tannic and more powerful wines than Chiantis or most other Sangioveses. By law they must be aged for four years, and two of those years must be in wooden barrels.