The third estate I visited in Montalcino, Napa’s newest sister city, was @argiano1580, whose Brunello di Montalcino 2015 I fell in love with when I shared a bottle with my Soror Maureen at @mariobistrot_thecliff on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten last year. I started purchasing bottles for my collection. And now I have to make room for more!
For reasons I’m too embarrassed to post, I arrived extremely late to my tasting — but I had called ahead to let them know I was running behind. I was told not to worry. Still, fearing my tasting would be cut short, I arrived frazzled and frustrated. My host, Akemi, told me to relax and assured me that I would have the full experience I had booked. Boy, did I! And then some!
My tour began in the vineyards, hearing about the organic-regenerative viticulture.
From there, I visited the production area, church, gorgeous, new garden and the mind-blowing historical cellar whose spiral staircase lead me past walls holding not just historic vintages of Brunellos produced by Argiano but some of Montalcino’s other top producers.
A nook dedicated to the great oenologist Giacomo Tachis, the father of Super Tuscans, holds some of the wines he helped develop, including Sassicaia and Solaia. But the cellar showstopper is the private collection of Argiano’s Brazilian billionaire owner, Andrè Esteves, whose priceless French wine collection is astonishing — to say the least. How many bottles of Chateau d’Yquem can one man have? And large formats at that!!!
Staring at all these collector wines made me thirsty. Time for my “Arpeggio Tasting,” which included Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2019 with a pan brioche filled with liver paté, Non Confunditur IGT 2019 (a steal!) with black cabbage and ricotta flan, Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2017 with traditional Tuscan tomato soup, Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2012 (my fave!) with a Tuscan sausage with caramelized onions and Solengo IGT 2017 with local pecorino cheese. I tried various vintages of Solengo and even the Grappa di Brunello di Montalcino. Fantastic wines! Thanks Akemi! 🍷 🇮🇹
