Piombaia - 2019 Rosso di Montalcino

Beta Offer #5 of 18

Bottom Line Up Front - Piombaia winemaker Franceco Cantini is proud of his impeccable Brunello di Montalcino. But it’s this wine, his less expensive Rosso di Montalcino, that Francesco talked about most during our visit. The 2019 Piombaia Rosso is a brash, fresh, fruit-driven wine that’s joyful enough for your Tuesday but still serious enough for a Saturday culinary escapade.

(To order, just click the link above and follow the prompts, or scroll to the end of this message for step-by-step instructions.)

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Fellow wine geeks,

When the Open Tuesday team first met Francesco in November, he was directing the rescue of our rental car from a ditch in front of his winery. (Don’t judge. It gets quite dark by 5:30 pm in Tuscany in the winter.) Once liberated, we rallied to taste the Piombaia lineup of wines. They were delicious, especially this 2019 Rosso, but afterward I wondered if some kind of rescue bias might have influenced our impressions.

Looking to overcome my doubts, I secured another bottle of the 2019 Piombaia Rosso in Milan and re-tasted it with my wife Sarah in our apartment. 

Sarah has an excellent palate, but she’s not a fan of Sangiovese, the red grape used in Brunello and Rosso di Montalcino. Then again, she doesn’t complain much when I pour top-tier Sangiovese like Montevertine, Le Ragnaie, Pian del Orino, Biondi-Santi, etc.

So I poured this Piombaia 2019 Rosso for Sarah blind, with the label hidden. Her comments: “Wow, do we have more bottles of this?” When I revealed that it was Sangiovese, Sarah didn’t change her tune a bit. “More Sangiovese wines should be like this,” she said.

Piombaia is a small biodynamic producer in one of the coldest Montalcino vineyard zones. Though you wouldn’t refer to this as a mountain wine, the cool air helps produce wines with refreshing acidity. You can check out some of the vineyards and territory in these pics: https://piombaia.com/en/winery/

Here is where Piombaia is located on the map: Agriturismo Piombaia. Zooming in, you might notice Piombaia is next door to Le Ragnaie, the producer of our first offer, Troncone. The two producers make a white wine together from a shared vineyard.

For the newer wine geeks in the group, Brunello di Montalcino is one of Italy’s most exalted wines, with prices to match. Rosso di Montalcino is often referred to as Brunello’s younger sibling. The two wines come from the same grape (Sangiovese) and the same appellation. But while Brunello is required to age at least four years before release, a Rosso only needs to age one year.

The first four Open Tuesday offers were unabashedly savory wines. They all have complex fruit notes, but on the fruity-savory spectrum, they are firmly in the savory camp. This Rosso from Piombaia, however, is more in the fruity camp. The morello cherry and currant notes are tough to miss. Yet a balancing stony underbush element keeps the wine from being too sweet.

Please do yourself a big favor and drink this Rosso di Montalcino with bistecca alla fiorentina or one of those sirloin steaks from Costco. Maybe a good eggplant parmigiana for the vegetarians out there?

Piombaia - 2019 Rosso di Montalcino

13.5% alcohol by volume

(To order, just click the link above and follow the prompts.)

Happy Tuesday,

Chris

If you have any questions or feedback, please email us: [email protected].  

How it works: 

After clicking one of the blue links above, you’ll be able to request 1-12 bottles. Actually, that’s all you have to do!

About a week later, when we close the offer, you’ll get an email confirming how many bottles we allocated to your account. We will charge you when the wines are allocated.

We’ll do our best to allocate all the bottles you request. But when there are more requests than bottles available, we’ll allocate one bottle to all requesting members before allocating a second bottle to anyone. We want as many members as possible to try these wines.

This Piombaia Rosso di Montalcino is offer number five of 18 during the spring private beta test. We are sending offers on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday for six straight weeks (starting on 3/29).

We encourage you to ship in increments of 12. With a total of 18 offers in this tranche, there should be plenty of chances to get to 12, 24, or 36. If you don’t have an increment of 12 at the end of the beta test, we will get in touch.

Wines from the beta tranche will ship in late May-early June for $5 per bottle (if you have an increment of 12.) This is about the same as the price to ship from coast to coast within the U.S. - but our wines are coming directly from Italy.

Once your credit card is on file, you can make future requests with just a few clicks from the offer email. If you don’t have a payment method on file, you can add one during your first order. Your credit card information is protected by Stripe.

Chris MacLean

Rob Genova

Open Tuesday Wines S.r.l.s.

Via Augusto Anfossi 19, 20135 Milano - Italy