Winemaker Notes
Critical Acclaim
All Vintages
Located few kilometers from Montepulciano, where southeastern Tuscany borders Umbria and Lazio, La Braccesca Estate is immersed in a pristine environment greatly loved and admired by travelers from all over the world. Montepulciano is the land of renowned "Vino Nobile", a wine appreciated already centuries ago by the Medici family. In the early 1990s, the Marchesi Antinori brought their experience, respect for tradition and capacity for innovation to this land of history and culture.
One of La Braccesca's strengths is the harmony between the past and the future, reached through a strong knowledge of winemaking and a infinite passion for quality. These qualities represent the mission statement of a young dynamic winery in one of the most prestigious winemaking areas of Italy.
This significant Tuscan village—not to be confused with the red grape of the same name widely grown in Abruzzo and the Marche regions—was home to one of the first four Italian DOCGs granted in 1980.
Based on the Sangiovese grape (here called Prugnolo Gentile), the village’s prized wine called Vino Nobile di Montepulciano ranks stylistically in between Chianti Classico, for its finesse, and Brunello di Montalcino for its power. With a deep ruby color, heavy concentration and a firm structure given by the village's heavy, cool clay soils, most Vino Nobile di Montepulciano will demand some bottle age.
Among Italy's elite red grape varieties, Sangiovese has the perfect intersection of bright red fruit and savory earthiness and is responsible for the best red wines of Tuscany. While it is best known as the chief component of Chianti, it is also the main grape in Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and reaches the height of its power and intensity in the complex, long-lived Brunello di Montalcino. Somm Secret—Sangiovese doubles under the alias, Nielluccio, on the French island of Corsica where it produces distinctly floral and refreshing reds and rosés.