2019 L’Aietta Brunello di Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy

Francesco Mulinari, though a Montalcino native, does not come from a winemaking family. His father whimsically purchased 1 hectare of land, nestled up to the walls of the city center of Montalcino in the early 80s as a place to bring the family to picnic, nothing more. Previously this hectare had grazing sheep, and a small farm, LAietta means little farm courtyard. Early in his high school years, Francesco discovered that this little picnic spot with its few vines was registered in the DOCG of Brunello, and that on this ancient stoned terraced piece of land, he could produce his own wine. He got started right away, and at the tender age of 18 he produced his first vintage of Brunello in 2001. After high school Francesco went to school for oenology, taking jobs at other wineries, all the time working on his little piece of land, slowly building a tiny one roomed cellar out of stone, and re-working the terraces to re-plant Sangiovese vines in the bush method. Francesco graduated oenology school, and while still working part time for other wineries, then produced his first vintage of Rosso di Montalcino in 2005. Everything very obviously done by hand (the steep grade of this vineyard is barely walkable, let alone accessible by tractor), and done by Francesco alone. At 30 he is on his 12th vintage this year, and has while always working organically, has just decided to become certified as well.

The Rosso comes from another younger vineyard near Castelnuovo dellAbate di Montalcino that he has since rented, and here the vines are trained in the traditional guyot method.