Castello Di Monsanto, Sangioveto Grosso, 2016

Dusty Cherry, Earth, Tobacco

Tuscany / Red / Sangiovese Grosso / Sustainable 

Hand-picked fruit is selected from the single “Scanni” cru (planted exclusively to Sangiovese in 1968). Fermentation is carried out in truncated, temperature-controlled conical stainless-steel vats with délestage and pumping-over through the primary ferment (around 20 days). The wine is then matured in 500-litre French oak casks (a mix of new and second-use) for roughly 18–20 months, followed by extended bottle ageing before release — a regime designed to build structure while preserving bright red fruit and aromatic lift.

Notes on the producer

Castello di Monsanto is a long-running, family estate that rose to prominence under Aldo and then Fabrizio Bianchi; Fabrizio’s pioneering work in the 1960s (including the early single-vineyard “Il Poggio” bottling) helped shape modern Chianti Classico. The estate runs some 72 hectares with roughly 56 ha planted to Sangiovese, and today the property remains family led (Laura Bianchi among the current generation) with a famously extensive underground ageing cellar and a reputation for ageworthy, site-driven Sangiovese wines. Their Scanni cru (source of the Sangioveto Grosso) is treated as a special single-site bottling and is only produced in peak years.