Montalcino, tuscany
Montalcino in Tuscany, home to Brunello di Montalcino.
(Image credit: Montalcino in Tuscany, home to Brunello di Montalcino)

Richard Baudains has been getting to know Tuscany’s finest wine estates for nearly three decades. Here, he gives a personal insight into 10 of his own favourites in the Montalcino area...

Best Brunello producers

I first arrived in Montalcino, Tuscany, on a winter evening in 1978, on a bicycle. The village had a distinctly medieval atmosphere then. There was the dimmest of street lighting and nowhere at all to eat.

Finding a pensione for the night was a serious undertaking. But the views over the countryside the next morning were spectacular.

The views are still spectacular, but everything else is different these days.

The main street bustles with visitors at all hours. There are yoghurt bars, Champagne bars and takeaway pizza shops, boutiques and wine shops, and every second door offers bed and breakfast.

The source of all this prosperity is the Brunello boom. When the producers’ consortium was originally founded in 1977, it had 20 members. Now there are more than 200.

The exponential increase in wine production has brought with it inevitable diversity.

Vineyards have spread over parts of the commune with marked differences of climate and soils, and the mushrooming of wine estates – often with owners from outside the region – has meant the arrival of new winemaking philosophies.

The innovations that come with all this have sometimes been seen as a threat to the authenticity of the wines of Montalcino and there has been much debate about what are suitable or unsuitable sites and over so-called ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’ wine styles.

My personal view is that the diversity offered by Montalcino today is a resource and a part of its richness, and in my selection of the producers that I admire I have tried to reflect this.

This article first appeared in Decanter magazine’s Italy supplement for 2017. It has been edited for Decanter.com by Eleanor Douglas. 

Richard Baudains is regional chair for Veneto in the Decanter World Wine Awards.

Richard Baudains’ top 10 Brunello producers:

Fattoria dei Barbi

Fattoria dei Barbi
(Image credit: Fattoria dei Barbi Instagram)

Producer Profile: Fattoria dei Barbi

There are three excellent reasons for a visit...

Baricci

(Image credit: Credit Unknown)

Credit: www.baricci.it

Producer profile: Baricci

Baricci have been making wine on this property since the 1950s...

Biondi Santi

(Image credit: Credit Unknown)

Producer profile: Biondi Santi

One of the ‘sanctuaries’ of Italian wine...

Le Potazzine

(Image credit: Credit Unknown)

Credit: www.lepotazzine.com

Producer profile: Le Potazzine

An organic estate which is 'an oasis of calm'....

Donatella Cinelli Colombini

(Image credit: Credit Unknown)

Credit: Donatella Cinelli Colombini Instagram

Producer Profile: Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Donatella Cinelli Colombini is all about new beginnings...

Silvio Nardi Montalcino

(Image credit: Credit Unknown)

Credit: www.tenutenardi.com

Producer Profile: Silvio Nardi

Immersed in the natural, untamed Tuscan countryside...

Siro Pacenti

(Image credit: Credit Unknown)

Credit: www.siropacenti.it

Producer Profile: Siro Pacenti

These wines have a distinctive personality...

Salvioni

(Image credit: Credit Unknown)

Producer profile: Salvioni

A plot recognised as one of the great ‘crus’ of the village....

San Polino

(Image credit: Credit Unknown)

Producer Profile: San Polino

Montalcino’s first certified organic estate.....

Conti Costanti

(Image credit: Credit Unknown)

Producer profile: Conti Costanti

One of the longest-established families in Montalcino...

Richard Baudains
Richard Baudains
Decanter Magazine, Regional Chair for Veneto DWWA 2019

Richard Baudains was brought up on the formerly French-speaking island of Jersey (hence the French surname). He moved to Italy to teach, and his first article with Decanter was published in 1988. He has been writing about Italian wine ever since, currently with a monthly column on Decanter Premium. Judge and long-time regional chair at the Decanter World Wine Awards, Baudains is also on the editorial team of the Slow Wine Guide for Friuli Venezia Giulia, and has taught MA courses on Wine Journalism at the Università delle Scienze Gastronomiche. Baudains judges in wine competitions and leads tastings and educational seminars in various Italian regions. Outside of wine, he works as a Cambridge University English language examiner. He lives in Gorizia.