Mine is a story linked to the land, which started from Castelnuovo
dell'Abate where my grandfather Bramante was a farmer, before
opening a workshop in S. Angelo, where he repaired tractors, in the
thirties, and arrived at Poggiolo, where today I produce few bottles,
but many labels, each with its own history and philosophy.
The real protagonist of this story is not me, it is my father, Roberto,
son of Bramante, owner in S. Angelo Scalo of an agricultural
machinery shop known by all, who in 1971 decided to buy a 65
hectare farm, Il Poggiolo, with money he saved by selling agricultural
machinery. The farm was uninhabited, without a cellar, without even
a single row of vines, in practice, without anything. At that time,
there were just 28 Brunello producers in Montalcino, it was not that
economic and commercial phenomenon that we have learned to
appreciate in the following decades. Yet, my father Roberto believed
in it immediately, planted the first 3 hectares, bought the first cement
tanks and the first Slavonian oak barrels, worth 30 hectoliters. A few
years later, in 1980, the first 4,000 bottles of Brunello di Montalcino
were born, vintage 1975.
For me, the spark was lit in 1984, when I participated for the first time
in Vinitaly. The following year, I started to produce my own wine,
giving life to the first Cru of Brunello di Montalcino, the Sassello,
which followed the logic of the French Cru: a selection on the market
at a price double the base, when no one was doing it yet. In 1989,
with the death of my father Roberto, I found myself in the situation
of having to take over the company, continuing to make wine, until
today, exactly as he would have done it. For my father, producing his
own wine was an enormous satisfaction. I proudly carry on his work
by creating an increasingly refined artisan product, appreciated by
wine lovers from my Montalcino area.
In all this, a separate chapter deserves Cecilia, my partner, who has
always supported me without ever missing her critical point of view,
supporting my impulses and keeping my excesses in check. A
difficult role, because she is a sunny person, I am moody, always
looking for a balance. A good part of my intuitions are thanks to her,
I have, in a sense, been fed with her energy.