Founded in 1972, San Filippo has a long history in Montalcino but the story for me started in 2003 when Robert Gianelli bought the property. Gianelli believed that San Filippo had not reached its full potential and resolved to change that. He converted the property’s 10ha to organic farming and decreased production from 5,000 to 3,000 cases annually. He also reduced the use of new oak by half to preserve the aromatics of the Sangiovese Grosso and allow more of the vineyard to show. Sitting just outside Montalcino to the SE at 240-300 meters, San Filippo is an estate to know for those who prefer more elegant, drinkable wines.

Watching the evolution of San Filippo’s wines over the last few years has been fascinating. Brunello can be a magical wine and San Filippo’s Brunellos continue to get better and better every year. In part it is because Roberto Gianelli is an amazing person and his enthusiasm and love of the wines from his adopted home (he’s from Florence) is contagious but also it is because the wines are now – more and more – bearing the mark of his personal philosphy and preferences rather than that of his original consultant oenologist.