2024 Castello di Montepo - Toscana Rosso IGT Sassoalloro (750ml)

Castello di Montepò is the Maremma estate of Jacopo Biondi Santi, whose family traces its winemaking legacy back to the 1800s, when Ferruccio Biondi Santi isolated the Sangiovese clone that would become synonymous with Brunello di Montalcino. At Montepò, Jacopo has spent decades adapting that same heritage clone, known as BBS11, to the warmer, coastal conditions of the Maremma. Sassoalloro, first produced in 1991, stands as the estate's flagship wine and takes its name from a massive glacial boulder on the property that has long featured in local legend, a fitting symbol for a wine built on both tradition and place.

The fruit comes from Sangiovese Grosso vines grown across the estate's fifty hectares of vineyard within its larger six hundred hectare holding near Scansano. Soils here run to limestone and galestro, a loose, flaky rock that pushes the vines to dig deep and concentrates the character of the grapes, while the Mediterranean climate brings hot days balanced by cooling sea breezes. After hand harvest, the wine undergoes refinement for fourteen months in untoasted barriques crafted from wood sourced in the Tronçais forests of France, a choice meant to build structure without heavy oak influence.

The bouquet leads with crushed granite and pencil shavings, a mineral streak that frames the wine's juicy red fruit. Silky tannins and lively acidity carry the palate toward a long, harmonious finish that balances power with real elegance. It's built for the table, pairing naturally with roast lamb, grilled sausages, or a rich beef stew.