Solaria-Cencioni in Montalcino was founded in 1989 when Patrizia Cencioni took over her father’s estate and began bottling wine under her name. Her grandfather, Giuseppe Cencioni, was one of the founders of the local winemakers consortium, but Patrizia updated the estate and modernized winemaking. With 22 acres planted mostly in the Brunello appellation, the estate produces some 30,000 bottles a year. Solaria-Cencioni makes Brunello di Montalcino, Rosso di Montalcino, and a Cabernet Sauvignon/Sangiovese blend. Gambero Rosso has often given the estate’s wines rating of two to three glasses, and has complimented Patrizia as “one of the few wine women who monitors every stage in the production process, from winter pruning to bottling. The results are very personal and possess that characteristic typical of great wines – they improve with aging.”