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What you’ll find at Cordella in Montalcino is not riches from Milan, or other such pomp and circumstance—but earnest, honest winemaking that’s done the old-school way, passed on from father to daughter.
Located between Montalcino and Torrenieri, in the northeast corner of the Brunello di Montalcino appellation, the Cordella estate is a modest one, with just under 15 acres of Sangiovese Grosso vineyards, a small cottage where both Rosso di Montalcino and Brunello di Montalcino is vinified and a renovated farmhouse where the wine is aged. Soils are a mix of clay and sand, and vineyards sit on a slope at more
than 1,000 feet in altitude. Previously the family sold its grapes; in 1998 Maddalena Cordella assumed partial control of the estate from her father, Orlando, and made the decision to start bottling their own wines.
A wise decision. Winemaking at Cordella is mostly hands-off, with slow, temperature controlled fermentations and long aging in a mix of old and new Slavonian casks, as per Brunello tradition. We’ve discovered an elegance and refinement in the wines here that has been lacking in many other estates, that look for extraction and power over the natural grace that can Sangiovese Grosso can reveal when it’s treated properly. Cordella has no interest in keeping up with the jet set of Montalcino—it is making wine that transcends the hype and shows just how beautiful wines here can, and should, be.
With an initial release of just under 600 cases, the 2007 Cordella Rosso di Montalcino is a sumptuous wine, pure and expressive, and is undoubtedly one of the finest Rossos we’ve encountered for the money. The estate 2006 Brunello will be released in 2011.