Why it matters
The producer
Conti Costanti farms twelve hectares of galestro hillside above the town of Montalcino in southern Tuscany and makes Brunello from a Sangiovese clone whose family first exhibited under that name in 1870. The Costantis are a Sienese family with documented roots in the fifteenth century, and their comital title dates to 1711. The estate is compact and has stayed that way: Andrea Costanti took over Colle al Matrichese in 1983, when he was in his early twenties, and built its reputation without enlarging its footprint.
Andrea is self-taught, and his approach combines a traditionalist's respect for large-format oak and long maceration with a willingness to use smaller barriques for the lighter wines in the range. He works with enologist Vittorio Fiore. The result across four decades has been a producer that stays close to its hillside and lets the galestro and altitude carry the conversation.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Montalcino is a hill town in the province of Siena, about forty kilometres south of Siena itself. The appellation of Brunello di Montalcino covers Sangiovese grown within the Montalcino commune and aged to the DOCG's requirements: a minimum of five years from harvest for the standard Brunello, six for the Riserva. The name Brunello refers not to a separate grape variety but to the local clone of Sangiovese grown on these hills.
Colle al Matrichese sits on the northern part of the Montalcino hill, where the aspect moderates ripening and the altitude keeps acidity higher than on the warmer southern slopes. The vineyards run from 310 to 400 metres above sea level. Northern Montalcino tends to produce Brunello that is firmer in its early years and slower to open than wine from the southern or southeastern slopes, which ripen earlier and more fully.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The twelve hectares of Sangiovese vines at Colle al Matrichese range from six to twenty-five years old. Three further hectares have been planted to Merlot and Cabernet, though neither appears in the main range. Harvest begins in early October, which is fairly standard for northern Montalcino at this altitude.
Fermentation takes place on the skins in stainless-steel vats for fourteen to twenty-one days, depending on the vintage. The length varies because Sangiovese needs time to give up its tannin, and in richer, riper years the extended contact extracts more fully. The stainless steel preserves fruit character and keeps the wine's acidity clean through fermentation.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range moves in four steps from light and early-drinking to serious and age-worthy.
Rosso di Montalcino is Sangiovese from the younger or lighter parcels, aged in Allier barriques before release. It is lighter in body than the Brunello, with fresh cherry and violet character and enough acidity to carry it through three to five years from the vintage. It is the estate's quickest wine and the most immediately approachable.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Brunello di Montalcino is the bottle to start with. The Rosso gives a lighter read on the estate's Sangiovese, and the Vermiglio is produced in quantities that make it genuinely difficult to source. The Brunello is where the galestro, the altitude, and the long maceration and Slavonian-oak ageing all work together in one glass. It is dark-fruited, firm-tannined, and high-acid, with a slow, dry finish. Buy the most recent vintage you can find, put it away for eight to ten years, and open it with food substantial enough to meet the tannin: roast lamb, aged pecorino, braised meat.