Why it matters
The producer
In 1984 an Italian painter bought a ruined medieval castle on the northwestern ridge of Montalcino and planted Sangiovese. Sandro Chia was not looking for an appellation foothold; he wanted a home and a studio. The castle came with vineyards, holm-oak woods and heathland, and Chia began farming what the land already offered, choosing the grape that the Brunello di Montalcino DOCG is built around: 100% Sangiovese, grown from 200 to 400 metres on the hill's northwestern face.
Chia put his own art on the labels from the beginning. His Transavanguardia paintings, bold and figurative, appear on every bottle the estate produces. That decision was practical before it became iconic: he needed a label and drew from what was at hand. Four decades on, the artwork still marks every tier of the range.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Montalcino is a hilltop town in southern Tuscany, south of Siena, giving its name to one of Italy's most age-worthy red wine appellations. Brunello di Montalcino DOCG requires 100% Sangiovese, aged for at least five years before release, and the denomination draws its name from the specific clay and limestone soils of the Montalcino hill and the warm, dry southern Tuscan climate moderated by altitude.
Castello Romitorio sits on the northwestern ridge, an exposed position that runs from 200 metres at the lower vineyard plots to 400 metres at the top. The northwestern face of Montalcino receives less direct afternoon heat than the southern and eastern slopes, giving cooler growing conditions that carry through to the wines: Sangiovese from this ridge tends to hold firm acidity and detailed aromatic character alongside the tannin that Montalcino is known for.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The estate harvests by hand across all Montalcino plots, with low yields and plot-by-plot selection through the growing season. Working the vineyard parcel by parcel, rather than treating the entire elevation range as a single farming unit, means that fruit from the cooler high plots and the warmer lower plots is tracked and managed separately before decisions are made in the cellar.
The original 1984 plantings account for roughly half the estate's vineyard area. Older Sangiovese vines produce less fruit per vine, but that fruit carries more concentration and a longer aromatic profile than younger plantings. The biodiversity held in four decades of undisturbed rootstock also means that the vines contain a range of clonal material that newer plantings, selected for uniformity, would not carry.
Wines to know
The range in view
The Montalcino range at Castello Romitorio runs across four tiers, all 100% Sangiovese.
Colto Rosso di Montalcino is the estate's entry-level Montalcino red, carrying the DOC appellation and intended for drinking younger than the Brunello tiers. The Colto bottling is direct: cherry and plum on the nose, balsamic lift, firm acidity and approachable tannin that does not demand years of cellaring before the wine opens up. It is a Montalcino Sangiovese without the weight of the extended ageing rules that govern Brunello.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with the Brunello di Montalcino. It is the bottle where the estate's Sangiovese, the northwestern ridge at altitude, and Filippo Chia's cellar work are all present and readable without the extra weight of the extended Riserva programme. In the glass it opens with dark cherry, earthy spice and a mineral thread that comes from the galestro soil underneath the vines. The tannin is firm and chewy in the way that Montalcino Sangiovese always is, but the acidity from the cool-night growing conditions gives the wine enough freshness that it does not feel dense. Drink it with eight to ten years in the bottle, or hold it longer if the vintage was strong.