Attractions

Sampling the Vino

Brunello di Montalcino exudes the smell of mossy, damp earth and musky berries. It tastes of dark, sweet fruits and dry vanilla. It's also the backbone of Montalcino's economy. As the deep ruby liquid mellows to garnet, the wine takes on its characteristic complex and slightly tannic aspect. Brunello is one of Italy's mightiest reds, a brawny wine that can tackle the rarest bistecca alla fiorentina. It's also the perfect accompaniment to game, pungent mushroom sauces, and aged cheeses.

Though Montalcino has produced wine for centuries, its flagship Brunello is a recent development, born out of late-19th-century sangiovese experiments to concentrate the grapes through very strict cultivation methods. By the 1960s, Brunello was becoming known as one of Italy's finest reds, and it has found its way to discriminating cellars around the world -- Queen Elizabeth II is fond of a quaff, and President Reagan toasted his 1980 inauguration with a Brunello. Most Brunellos are drinkable after about 4 to 5 years in the bottle, and the complex ones are best after 10 years or so (few last beyond 30). Bottles of '98 and '99 are good, and 2000 and 2001 are excellent. Heavy rains in 2002 hurt that harvest, and 2003 was a scorching summer throughout Europe, and so producers like to talk about how that translates into low-quantity but high-quality grapes. As a general rule, 2003 did not produce the best wines in Tuscany. On the other hand, the 2004 vintage is considered very good, although 2007, by many reviews, is shaping up to be even better. Montalcino's wine consortium (tel. 0577-848-246; www.consorziobrunellodimontalcino.it) is inside the Palazzo Comunale at Costa del Municipio 1, and staff members are happy to answer your questions and provide you with information on area vini.

In town, the best informal introduction to the deep-red liquid is a few hours spent at the Enoteca La Fortezza (tel. 0577-849-211; www.enotecalafortezza.it), inside the fortress. The stone-and-brick vaults are filled with excellent wines and grappa, as well as prosciutto, salami, pecorino cheese, biscotti, and Montalcino's famous honey. The enoteca came under new management in 2003, but rest assured: The new staff is as adept as the old one at helping you and the wine get better acquainted, and glasses start at 1.50€. The Brunello generally starts at 3.50€. The enoteca is open the same hours as the fortress.

On the town's main square, the 19th-century cafe Fiaschetteria Italiana, Piazza del Popolo 6 (tel. 0577-849-043), offers more imbibing pleasure, open Friday through Wednesday from 7:30am to midnight. A glass of wine ranges anywhere from 4€ to 12€.

If you prefer to go right to the source, the following Brunello wine estates welcome visitors. Poggio Antico (tel. 0577-848-044; fax 0577-846-563; www.poggioantico.com) is 4km (2 1/2 miles) south of town along the Grosseto road (right-hand road at the fork). Its Brunellos, especially the riserva, are consistently voted among the top 100 wines in the world by leading oenological magazines -- and they often hold the number-one spot among Brunello wines. Their elegant and velvety elixir deserves to be at least one of the bottles you bring home. Cantina visits should be reserved at least a day in advance (more in summer), but the direct-sales store is open daily to drop-ins from 8am to 5pm. Poggio Antico also has an excellent restaurant.

Banfi (tel. 0577-816-001 or 0577-840-111; www.castellobanfi.com) above Sant'Angelo Scalo, 10km (6 1/4 miles) south of town (right-hand road at the fork), is part of an American-owned exporting empire, an enormous ultramodern vineyard with a massive cantine. The riserva wines are precisely balanced Brunellos. Banfi also makes Moscadello and various non-Montalcino wines and runs a small museum (2.50€ admission) on the history of glass and wine in its medieval castle. This place has a highly developed commercial end. The huge enoteca sells books, ceramics, packaged local foods, and all the Banfi wines. This is also where you go for tastings; your first glass is free, but after that prices range from 2€ to 6€ per glass. The enoteca and museum are open daily from 10am to 7pm (until 6pm Oct-Mar). Call ahead for an appointment (best at least a week in advance) to take a free guided tour of the cellars at 4pm Monday through Friday. They also run an osteria for light snacks and a ristorante for pricey full meals with multiple wine tastings. In 2005, the estate opened a group of luxury villas called Il Borgo (tel. 0577-877-700; www.castellobanfiilborgo.com; 400€ double, 860€ suite), which is a good way to fully experience the castle's Michelin-rated restaurant, where 5-course tasting menus and wine sampling costs 140€ per person.

Fattoria dei Barbi (tel. 0577-841-111; fax 0577-841-112; www.fattoriadeibarbi.it), 5km (3 miles) south of town on the road to Castelnuovo (middle road at the fork), makes a mean Brunello di Montalcino riserva, Vigna del Fiore. The cantina also sells Moscadello and vin santo and is open Monday through Friday from 10am to 1pm and 2:30 to 6pm, Saturday and Sunday from 2:30 to 6pm. The slightly refined taverna (tel. 0577-841-200) serves good traditional meals off a seasonally changing menu using their own farm products (olive oil, cheeses, and, of course, wine) at a middlin' price, open Thursday through Tuesday from 12:30 to 2:30pm and 7:30 to 9:30pm. Free cantina tours and wine tastings are given Monday through Friday hourly at 11am, noon, and 3, 4, and 5pm. You can buy their delicious cheeses weekdays from 9am to noon and 1:30 to 5pm (closed 4pm Fri).

A Romanesque Abbey near Montalcino

In a pocket-size vale bounded by low green hills, the Cistercian abbey of Sant'Antimo (tel. 0577-835-659; www.antimo.it) rises amid olive groves. Its church is one of the most astoundingly intact Romanesque countryside temples left in Tuscany, but its monastery is mostly ruins. Since 1992, a handful of French monks have inhabited what's left, and the church interior echoes with their haunting Gregorian chant throughout the day. The first stone was supposedly laid on the order of Charlemagne in A.D. 781, but the current structure dates from 1118. Its amalgamated Lombard-French architecture has produced a building of singular beauty, with strong, simple lines of pale yellow and white stone. The fabric of the walls is studded with recycled materials, some inscribed and many with fantastic medieval (and even a few Roman) reliefs. A cypress is challenging the 30m (98-ft.) bell tower to a height contest. One side of the campanile supports a medieval relief of the Madonna and Child, and the carvings of animals and geometric designs around the doors are worth study. Before going inside, walk around to the back; at the base of the apse is a small, round window through which you can glimpse a bit of the 9th-century crypt underneath, part of the original church.

The honey-colored travertine interior of the church, with its second-level women's gallery adapted from Byzantine models, is filled even on cloudy days with a warm, diffuse light. Two Lombard lions, now toothless with age, once flanked the entrance but have been moved inside. Several of the column capitals have intricate alabaster carvings. One on the right aisle tells the story of Daniel in the Lion's Den, and, like the other alabaster capitals and column bases here, glows as if lit from within when sunlight streams into the church. You can descend to the cramped crypt, where you'll find a Pietà fresco, and spend hours admiring the carvings -- a plethora of eagles and evangelists, sheep and medieval Christs -- throughout the church. Behind the high altar and its 13th-century wooden crucifix is an unusual three-apsed ambulatory that gets plenty of sun -- your best bet for seeing that luminous effect on the alabaster column bases and capitals. Ask the guy at the postcard desk "Posso vedere la sagrestia per piacere?" (Poh-so ved-air-ay la sah-gres-tee-yah pair pee-ah-chair-ay) for a peek into the sacristy and its cartoonish 15th-century frescoes by Giovanni di Asciano on the Life of St. Benedict, interesting mainly for their earthy details and the animal extras that often seem wonderfully oblivious to the holy events happening around them. (One scene features a blatantly amorous pig couple.) Sant'Antimo is open to visitors Monday through Saturday from 10:30am to 12:30pm and 3 to 6:30pm, Sunday from 9:15 to 10:30am and 3 to 6pm. Admission is free.