Capanna Rosso di Montalcino 2018

Being considered by your neighbors and peers as the region’s “most underappreciated man” is a little bit of a dubious honor that I’m sure Patrizio Cencioni prefers he didn’t have – but for now, here we are. A few years ago, when I was in Montalcino tasting mainly Brunellos, Riservas and Rossos, I was blown away by Capanna’s wines. Every. Single. Bottle Patrizio pulled out seemed to be more invigorating than the next, like he was constructing a classical piece of music.

I left dazzled- and asked some of my next stops what they thought about Patrizio and his beautiful Capanna estate. That’s when I learned that most of his peers consider him Montalcino’s most underappreciated man, consistently making fabulous wines that for whatever reason haven’t garnered the crazy prices and feverish sellouts than some of his peers have enjoyed even whilst making inferior wines.

I found it funny when a year later it was echoed in Antonio Galloni’s Tuscan write-up, “Patrizio Cencioni continues to do fabulous work, and yet Capanna remains very much under the radar considering the quality of the wines.”

As many say, the three most important aspects to great Montalcino are location, location, location and there are not many that can compete with the Capanna’s location. Tucked away right along the uber-famous Montosoli subzone in the Northern part of the appellation, there isn’t a better representation of galestro and marine sentiment driven soil. That’s probably why every wine Patrizio makes is outstanding, with more expression and depth than the next.