Sant'Angelo in Colle

Sant’Angelo in Colle is the hilltop village at the heart of Brunello’s far south, 444 metres up above the largest and warmest subzone of the denomination — Sant’Angelo, which runs from the village down to the flat land around Sant’Angelo Scalo and makes, on conservative estimates, 35 to 40 per cent of all Brunello.

The Terroir This is the hottest, driest corner of Montalcino. Sea breezes from the Maremma push summer temperatures 3 to 4 degrees above the high ground near the town, rainfall averages about 500 millimetres a year against 700 for the denomination, and the harvest comes ten days to two weeks earlier. But Sant’Angelo is two places. Around the village the soils are older and calcareous, and the vineyards step down south- and southwest-facing slopes from about 400 to 300 metres; lower down, Pliocene clays give way to the young sandy soils of the river plain at Sant’Angelo Scalo, where the heat stress is severe.

The Critical Take Altitude decides quality here. Brunello from the hill below the village joins southern depth and ripe fruit to real finesse: Lisini’s vineyards between 300 and 400 metres and Col d’Orcia’s Poggio al Vento at 350 metres both have long records of ageing beautifully. Wine from the lowest vineyards is darker, higher in alcohol and lower in acidity — forward on release, but without the structure for long ageing. Across Sant’Angelo the tannins are riper than further north, so even the best wines are more approachable young than their northern counterparts. Extreme years show the difference: in rain-soaked 2002 the south, sheltered by Mount Amiata and picking earlier, fared far better than the hills near the town, while in torrid 2003 the low vineyards suffered severe heat stress.

At the Table Southern ripeness asks for generous cooking: bistecca alla fiorentina, peposo, wild boar, braised game and roast lamb, finished with aged Pecorino Toscano. Decant a young bottle an hour or two ahead and serve at 16 to 18 degrees in a large Burgundy glass. The hill wines reward ten to fifteen years, and the finest single vineyards — Poggio al Vento, Lisini’s Ugolaia — hold for decades; choose them over bottles from the plain when you are buying to cellar.

Benchmark Producers Il Poggione, Lisini (Ugolaia), Col d’Orcia (Poggio al Vento).