2018 Poggio di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino 750 ml

Any list of the greatest wines of Italy must include Poggio di Sotto.

Their 2018 Brunello di Montalcino justifies every bit of praise they’ve ever earned. 

This bottle was named Wine Enthusiast’s #1 Cellar Selection of the year, beating out Vega Sicilia’s $600+ Unico, which placed at #2. It also boasts 96+ points from Wine Advocate, who says Poggio di Sotto “hits it out of the ballpark,” promising that “your high expectations will be met.”

Poggio di Sotto doesn’t have the long history of some other estates in Brunello, but they’ve been one of the most important names in the region, practically ever since Piero Palmucci purchased his property overlooking the Orcia River valley in 1989.

At a time when many Tuscan producers were rushing to embrace international varieties, Piero devoted his estate solely to Sangiovese. He worked with researchers at the University of Milan to select the ideal biotypes of the grape for his vineyards, which were planted at three different altitudes to help build complexity and manage vintage variation.

In 2011, Piero sold Poggio di Sotto to Claudio Tipa, who has done nothing but build on the estate’s legacy. The farming is still organic—and as Wine Advocate noted, the attention to detail in the cellar has elevated the wines even further. There’s a reason that MICHELIN-three-stars like The French Laundry are able to charge over $800 for Poggio di Sotto’s current-release Brunello—it’s the absolute crème de la crème.