Soldera Brunello di Montalcino 2019

One of the most sought-after, small production wines from Montalcino vintage after vintage. In the early 1970s, Gianfranco, an insurance broker by trade, and his wife Graziella Soldera were looking to buy a suitable property to begin a new life growing grapes and making wine. They found Case Basse, a 23 hectare estate in the heart of the Brunello di Montalcino DOCG and began planting an 8 hectare vineyard and ultimately creating a unique eco-system, botanical garden and a world-wide reputation for the wine grown in this unique location. Passionate about natural winegrowing, Gianfranco went about developing a system where every aspect of his operation was focused on respecting not only the vines but all the plant and animal life in the immediate area. The result is a truly handmade wine where every decision prioritizes the health of the ecosystem and minimizes the footprint of his operation on it. Gianfranco’s daughter Monica and son-in-law Paolo began working at the estate in the mid-1990s and have now taken over operations following Gianfranco’s untimely passing in 2019 at 82 years old.

Over the years, Gianfranco and Graziella Soldera approached internationally-famous artists to design labels that reflect the elegance, balance and classic style of the wines they illustrate. And since 2013 (with the 2006 vintage) the winery has labelled its products as Toscana IGT/IGP Soldera Case Basse 100% Sangiovese instead of as Brunello di Montalcino. 

Gianfranco Soldera was born in Treviso on 29 January 1937. When he was a child, he and his family moved to Milan. At the start of the 1960s he founded one of the first insurance brokerage companies in Italy, which he ran until 2003. His family, by tradition, had always been passionate about the land and wine and, at the end of the 1960s, he and his wife Graziella, a flower and plant enthusiast, decided to buy some land with the intention of producing one of the best wines in the world.

The search for land with suitable characteristics for this purpose proved long and hard. Then in June 1972, Gianfranco and Graziella discovered Montalcino and Case Basse. The 23-hectare estate of Case Basse had been uncultivated for years. There weren’t any vines on the land, but the estate was perfect for cultivating large vineyards. Splendid for its beauty, light and position: a hilly terrain of Eocene origin, at an elevation of 320 m, in a southwesterly position. They bought it two months later and in autumn planted the first vineyard of about 2 hectares with Sangiovese, then in 1972 a second one of about 4.5 hectares.

The first vintage was in 1975 and it confirmed all the family’s extraordinary quality expectations. In 1982 they sold their first Brunello, which marked the start of business relations in Italy and abroad, with the aim of reaching everywhere where there are connoisseurs of great, long-aged natural wines. Today, despite limited production, Soldera wines are known and distributed to over 40 countries. With such a limited production, this wine is a real treasure to find in a retail wine shop.