| Region of production: | Brunello di Montalcino |
| Winery Location: | Castelnuovo dell’Abate |
| Year Established: | 1975 |
Vineyard Holdings
25 ha (14 ha of Sangiovese)
- Schiena d’Asino: 1 ha
- Loreto
Top Wines Produced & Inaugural Vintages
- Brunello di Montalcino
- Brunello di Montalcino Schiena d’Asino: aged for 42 months in large, Allier oak botti and one year in bottle
- Brunello di Montalcino Vigna Loreto: Inaugural vintage 2012.
- Rosso di Montalcino
- San Pio: Blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon with 20% Sangiovese, aged for 18 months in French oak barrels followed by six months in bottle
Average Total Production
- 60,000 bottles
Summary
Roman lawyer Gabriele Mastrojanni founded the original estate when he bought the San Pio and Loreto properties in Montalcino in 1975. He planted Sangiovese, and the estate began bottling wines in the 1980s. As the family still lived fulltime in Rome, Gabriele hired winemaker Maurizio Castelli and managing director Andrea Machetti in 1992. After Gabriele’s death, his heirs disagreed over management of the estate, and in 2008, they sold the property to current owners, the Illy Family (of Gruppo Illy – Italy’s famed coffee dynasty). The new ownership has modernized the winery and built a new cellar; they continue to work with Castelli and Machetti. The winery does not release a Riserva but makes and bottles two “crus” in the best vintages: the single-vineyard bottlings Schiena d’Asino and Vigna Loreto.
Style & Vinification Techniques
Grapes are hand-harvested and de-stemmed, then transferred to cement tanks for fermentation. In excellent years, the best fruit ferments in wood. Selected yeasts are avoided but accepted if necessary in difficult vintages. The Brunellos age for three years in various sizes of Allier oak botti followed by bottle-aging.
Producer Website: Mastrojanni