Primo Pacenti planted his first vines on the northern slopes of Montalcino in 1962 and was among the small group of producers who went on to found the Brunello di Montalcino Consortium. More than sixty years later, his grandchildren, Simonetta, Marco and Francesco Ripaccioli, run the estate with the same conviction that shaped it: that Sangiovese, grown in the right place and left to speak clearly, needs nothing added.
Since taking over in 2001, Francesco has approached the estate's vineyards as much as a research project as a farm. Every plot across both crus has been broken down into micro-terroirs, treated individually in the vineyard and vinified separately, giving the family a precise read on what each parcel contributes year after year. That work has a clear purpose. "This was my hope from the beginning," Francesco says. "To make wines that are very, very specific." Casaccia, from the clay-dominant heart of the Canalicchio cru, was the first parcel to earn its own bottling, debuting with the 2015 vintage. Montosoli followed, drawn from the oldest vines on the galestro-studded hill of the same name. The two crus meet in the Brunello Classico, the estate's flagship since 1966.
The 2021 vintage rewards the precision of that approach. The Brunello Classico is the estate's flagship as it has been since 1966, equal parts Canalicchio and Montosoli, classic and floral. As Eric Guido mentions below, the Vigna Montosoli is impossible to ignore and, we agree, one of the wines of the vintage. The 2024 Rosso completes the range: dense, fresh and mineral, a baby Brunello in everything but name.
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