Sesta di Sopra Brunello di Montalcino Sangiovese with tangy homemade spaghetti
With Linda’s homemade spaghetti and tangy marinara bolognese sauce, I pulled from the cellar a premium Brunello di Montalcino for a wine accompaniment. Readers of these pages know this wine has become one of our favorite ‘go-to’ wines, especially for this particular food-wine pairing. I’ve written in several of those posts what makes Brunello di Montalcino special.
This is from the Spina family who in 1980 acquired the 110 acre estate Sesta di Sopra in Abate, located southwest of Montalcino and about four kilometers from Castelnuovo dell.
Sesta di Sopra is located in an area ideally suited for viticulture, situated near the river Orcia, the calcareous soil and the microclimate are favourable for the vines to thrive.
They set upon to renovate the property, first the main house, an old lookout tower, amidst a six acre area covered with olive trees. Vines were first planted on six adjoining acres and beyond in the vineyards located in the upper part of the Sesta zone.
Ettore Spina took great care planting and operating the vineyards according to the latest viticulture practices. The total of fifteen acres of vineyards were planted in the early 1990s with different clones of the Sangiovese grosso variety. The first vintage of aristocratic wine was pressed in 1999. While not highly productive, they produced very high-quality grapes reflecting their terroir.
In the planting and viticulture management, as well as the production of Brunello and Rosso, Ettore Spina was aided by the professional advice of his good friend Giancarlo Pacenti, until recently Vice President of the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino. Today, owner Enrica Bandirola is assisted by Oenologist Giancarlo Pacenti.
Over the next decade, Sesta di Sopra, while small and little-known became a leading Brunello producer who Vilnius says rates among the best.
After they have been harvested, the grapes are placed in crates to protect them from damage. Arrived at the tiny winery, the grapes are fermented in temperature-controlled steel tanks according to traditional methods. The Brunello is aged in traditional Slavonian oak barrels with a capacity of 30 hectolitres. The Rosso is matured in French oak barrels.
This release was rated 95 points by Vinpous and Wine Enthusiast, 94 by James Suckling, and 93 by Wine Spectator.
Annual production is approximately 7,000 bottles.
