{"product_id":"quercecchio-rosso-di-montalcino-tuscany-italy-2024","title":"Quercecchio, Rosso di Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy, 2024","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThere are certain neighborhoods in the wine world where the address alone should make you pay attention, and Quercecchio occupies one of them. The estate sits south of Montalcino, at roughly 320 meters, in the extraordinary village of Tavernelle where Gianfranco Soldera established Case Basse and where Gaja's renowned twin Brunellos, Rennina and Sugarille, are produced. This is one of those remarkable little pockets of Tuscany where Sangiovese can transcend the broad, sun-soaked stereotype of Tuscan red wine: the fruit becomes brilliant and red rather than dark and heavy, the wine gains a palpable mineral density, and violets, dried flowers, herbs and savory earth seem to emerge almost effortlessly from the glass. At its most elegant, Sangiovese from this neighborhood can remind me less of stereotypically powerful Brunello than of fine red Burgundy—the same tension between perfume and earth, delicacy and persistence, transparent fruit and an almost weightless sense of intensity. Quercecchio's 2024 Rosso di Montalcino offers a wonderfully accessible way into that character, without requiring either the patience or considerable financial commitment demanded by its most famous neighbors.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eQuercecchio itself has substantially deeper roots than its relatively modest profile might suggest. The property appears in historical records from the late fourteenth century through the seventeenth century as a grancia—a monastic agricultural estate—belonging to the Benedictine monks of Monte Oliveto Maggiore. Today it encompasses roughly 150 hectares of vineyards, olive groves, woods, pasture and farmland, and has been in the Salvioni family for five generations. Only about sixteen hectares are planted to vines, giving Quercecchio the feeling of an old Tuscan agricultural estate that happens to make wine rather than a winery surrounded by a monoculture of vineyards. The vines descend toward the Maremma from around 320 meters above sea level, where altitude and ventilation temper the generous southern Tuscan sunshine and help Sangiovese retain the acidity and aromatic definition upon which its beauty depends.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eRosso di Montalcino is sometimes lazily described as \"baby Brunello,\" but I think that undersells what makes the category interesting. It is the same Sangiovese and the same extraordinary Montalcino landscape, but the objective is different: where Brunello is constructed around patience, structural development and long aging, Rosso gives us a chance to experience the grape while its fruit and perfume remain wonderfully immediate. Quercecchio ferments its Sangiovese in temperature-controlled stainless steel before approximately twelve months of maturation in oak, producing a wine with enough élevage to knit together its tannin and savory character without burying the exuberance of the young vintage. In 2024, that means a particularly vivid expression: fresh cherry and raspberry, flowers and spice, with the naturally firm backbone of Montalcino Sangiovese running underneath. It has seriousness without severity and structure without heaviness—the sort of red that becomes increasingly interesting over dinner rather than exhausting the palate halfway through the first glass.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd that makes mushroom ravioli in cream sauce an unusually satisfying partner. Mushrooms draw out precisely the woodland, earthy and savory register hiding beneath young Sangiovese's bright fruit, while the cream sauce provides the richness that allows the wine's acidity to become an asset: each sip cuts through the dairy fat and effectively resets the palate for the next bite. The ravioli's soft texture also works beautifully against the wine's fine tannic grip, while Parmesan, sage or a little browned butter would provide additional bridges into its nutty, herbal and earthy dimensions. Most importantly, neither side overwhelms the other. This isn't the massive Brunello-and-bistecca model of Tuscan pairing; it is something considerably more delicate, aromatic and textural—a pairing built around mushrooms, red fruit, cream, herbs and earth.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eServe the 2024 Quercecchio Rosso di Montalcino at approximately 60–62°F in a large Burgundy glass, giving it twenty or thirty minutes of air if possible; the broad bowl is particularly useful here because so much of the wine's pleasure lies in its perfume. In the glass it is a luminous ruby red, youthful and translucent rather than opaque, with flashes of crimson toward the rim. The aromas begin with sour cherry, wild strawberry and raspberry before opening into violet, rose petal, dried Mediterranean herbs, warm earth, subtle spice and a stony, almost ferrous mineral note; with air, there are suggestions of orange peel, tea leaf and forest floor that make the Burgundy comparison increasingly persuasive. The palate is medium-bodied, energetic and beautifully proportioned, its succulent red fruit carried by bright Sangiovese acidity and a fine web of youthful tannin, with savory herbs, earth and mineral salinity gradually overtaking the fruit through the long, clean finish. Mushroom ravioli in cream sauce is almost tailor-made for this combination of freshness and savor: the mushrooms echo the wine's earthy bass notes, the cream softens its young tannins, and the acidity slices through the sauce's richness. With each bite, the wine seems more floral and red-fruited; with each sip, the ravioli seems more deeply mushroomy and savory—the reciprocal transformation that makes a genuinely great food-and-wine pairing so satisfying.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Transparent","offers":[{"title":"750ml","offer_id":47469159186588,"sku":"CAUB2608-QUERC24RDM-750","price":38.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0694\/6937\/2572\/files\/Quercecchio_RossodiMontalcino_Tuscany_Italy_2024WEB.png?v=1787681344","url":"https:\/\/thecaubleist.com\/products\/quercecchio-rosso-di-montalcino-tuscany-italy-2024","provider":"The Caubleist","version":"1.0","type":"link"}