Story: Colle Massari | Toskana
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In the Montecucco area wine has been produced since Etruscan times. Nevertheless, for a long time the production area was overshadowed by the more extensive and well-known neighbor denomination of Brunello di Montalcino. However, since the year 1999, the perception is gradually changing and at least a little bit in favor of Montecucco. It was then that Maria and Claudio Tipa and his sister Maria Iris Tipa-Bertarelli entered the scene and acquired Castello Colle Massari in order to give shape to their vision: namely, to give the grape varieties of the region, first and foremost Sangiovese, a clearly terroir-based interpretation and, as dynamic pioneers, to give the entire area a new, broader attention and higher reputation. The conditions were good, because the estate is located in Cinigiano, situated in the northern Maremma, at 320 meters above sea level. Here there is a particularly suitable microclimate with significant temperature variations between day and night, which decisively favors the ripening of the grapes and the harmonious balance in their structure.

Equally important for the realization of the objectives, however, were the considerable investments made in the steep vineyards and cellars of the estate. The musts are processed purely by gravity, abandoning mechanical processes. Modernist barriques are also found only sparingly and exclusively for Cabernet Sauvignon in the impressive aging cellar; instead, the top wines mature in large wood and are refined with great sensitivity into finesse-rich growths with pronounced terroir character. With the millennium vintage, the first wine produced at ColleMassari was bottled, and already in 2014 the renowned 'Gambero Rosso' named the winery 'Winery of the Year' with the highest possible award - a testimony to the rapid development of ColleMassari, which continues to this day and, in the view of the owner family, will never be completed. Because even if their vision has become reality, the future begins today. - Gerardo [TS06/22]