Why it matters
The producer
Maddalena Cordella farms Sangiovese Grosso from the northeastern corner of Montalcino, in the hamlet of Torrenieri, where the soils run heavier and sandier than the limestone and marl that define the hilltown's historic centre. Her father Orlando planted the farm in 1972 and sold grapes and bulk wine for decades. When Maddalena took management in 1998, she inherited that arrangement. In 2006, she ended it, putting the estate's wine into bottle under her own label without yet having a winery on the property. The building came four years later.
That sequence matters. Cordella arrived as a label name in 2006, built the physical infrastructure to match in 2010, then expanded by acquiring Podere Borgasso in the Val d'Orcia in 2017. The estate now produces roughly 93,000 bottles of wine per vintage across 9 hectares of Sangiovese Grosso, holds TÜV Austria environmental certification covering waste management, energy use, and water retention, and operates as a working farm with hospitality alongside the winery.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Torrenieri sits in the northeastern sector of the Brunello di Montalcino DOCG, a large and varied appellation spread across the slopes and valleys surrounding the hilltop town of Montalcino in central Tuscany. The appellation is built entirely on Sangiovese Grosso, the local name for the Sangiovese clone permitted here. Within those shared rules, position within the appellation matters considerably: the zones closer to the town of Montalcino tend toward limestone and galestro soils that push the wine toward firmer tannins and more austere acidity. Torrenieri is different.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The estate works approximately 9 hectares of Sangiovese Grosso at Torrenieri, at elevations consistent with the northeastern sector of the appellation. TÜV Austria environmental certification covers the operation, with formal evaluation of waste and energy practices, water use, and retention. That certification reflects an approach to farming that goes beyond minimum compliance and treats the land as a resource to maintain across years rather than exploit by vintage.
In the cellar, Brunello di Montalcino DOCG rules require minimum ageing of five years from harvest, including at least two years in oak and four months in bottle before release. The Riserva tier extends that ageing further. Cordella follows these requirements, and the sandy-clay composition of the Crete Senesi soils means the fruit arriving at the cellar carries a particular ripeness profile that the oak ageing rounds rather than tightens.
Wines to know
The range in view
Cordella makes two labelled wines from Sangiovese Grosso.
The Brunello di Montalcino DOCG is the flagship. It spends a minimum of two years in oak and four months in bottle before release, with total ageing from harvest to shelf running to five years at minimum. The wine reflects Torrenieri's sandy-clay terroir: ripe, round, and generous in fruit rather than angular or austere. The 2017 vintage earned 93 points from James Suckling, 92 from Luca Maroni, and 87 from Vinous, with tasting notes pointing to ripe berries and plums and tannins that sit softly rather than grip.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with the Brunello di Montalcino. This is the wine the estate was built to make and the label that defines what Torrenieri's Crete Senesi soils produce from Sangiovese Grosso. It is a round, ripe Brunello with velvety tannins, dark fruit, and warmth from the sandy clay. The 2017 vintage scored 93 points from James Suckling and gives the clearest read of the house character: generous fruit, soft grip, a finish that holds without hardening. It costs more and takes more patience than the Rosso, but it answers the question of what Cordella is doing and where it is doing it.