Enzo Tiezzi has labored in Montalcino for nearly sixty years. A native of this famous hilltop town, he has planted vines, tended vineyards, and made wine for many of Montalcino's most important estates. He wrote... Read More

Enzo Tiezzi has labored in Montalcino for nearly sixty years. A native of this famous hilltop town, he has planted vines, tended vineyards, and made wine for many of Montalcino's most important estates. He wrote a dissertation on Brunello in the 1960s, before the rest of the world was paying attention to it, and served 25 years on the local Consorzio Board (six of those as its president). He got the Rosso di Montalcino DOC created and the Brunello DOC elevated to DOCG.

Since 1989 Tiezzi has been making wine under his own name, from a few small vineyards that he purchased and lovingly restored. The crown jewel is Vigna Soccorso, a tiny (sub-1ha) parcel with southwest exposure, which has made exceptional, prize-winning Brunello for nearly 150 years!

The original owner, Professor Riccardo Paccagnini, was (like Enzo today) a great lover, producer, and scholar of Sangiovese. Tiezzi acquired a trove of the estate’s documents, including Pacagnini’s original 1870 label, which appears to be the first time the name “Brunello di Montalcino” was used on a bottle! Tiezzi uses that label today.

But Tiezzi’s respect for tradition goes deeper than that. Though this is prime wine real estate, the vines share space with olive groves and fruit trees—because that's how it's been for 150 years. And when Tiezzi painstakingly restored the vineyard's ancient terraces, he re-planted bush-vines (tree-like vines that are rare for Tuscany in general and Montalcino in particular, but good for keeping yields down) to replicate Paccagnini's work. Tiezzi follows organic principles in the vineyard, does the harvest by hand and the fermentation with native yeasts (24-28 days) in wooden vats with no temperature control.