Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Pian di Conte
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From our sommelier team
Talenti's Riserva Pian di Conte is a Brunello di Montalcino DOCG made from 100% Sangiovese, produced, in the estate's words, "only in the best vintages, with a meticulous selection of the grapes". The fruit comes from the oldest vineyards immediately around the winery at Pian di Conte, sitting at 400 metres above sea level on sandy topsoil with a south-western exposure. Vines are 30 to 40 years old, trained to spurred cordon at a density of 5,400 plants per hectare. Fermentation and maceration take place in stainless steel at 28-29 degrees Celsius. Fifty per cent of the wine is then aged for 24 months in Slavonian oak casks of 15 to 25 hectolitres, a large-format traditional regime rather than barrique, before several further months in bottle ahead of release. Alcohol is stated at 14.5%. The house describes the result as a deep, intense red with a complex and fresh bouquet, showing plum, cherry, blackberry and raspberry alongside chocolate, tobacco and licorice. It is a structured, traditionally-built Sangiovese rather than an oak-driven one.
Producer history
Talenti is a family estate at Pian di Conte, in the Sant'Angelo in Colle area of southern Montalcino. Founder Pierluigi Talenti moved from the mountains of Romagna to the hills of Montalcino in the 1950s, and in 1980 bought the property and the land that had, in the Consorzio's words, "so fascinated him and made him fall in love since the fifties". The estate today covers 40 hectares in total, of which 21 hectares are under vine and 16 hectares are planted to Sangiovese, part of it selected in the Montalcino territory by Pierluigi himself over the years. Management passed to the family in 1999 under Riccardo Talenti, who is described as combining respect for tradition with a search for new technologies and an eye to the future. The estate is now in its third generation. The Riserva Pian di Conte is produced only in the best vintages, with a meticulous selection of the grapes.
Signature pairings
- Bistecca alla Fiorentina — The classic Tuscan pairing: charred, rare beef fat and protein bind the wine's firm Sangiovese tannin, while its high acidity cuts the richness. Talenti themselves list red meats as the house pairing.
- Braised wild boar with pappardelle — Talenti specifically name game, meat sauces and wild boar. The gamey, slow-cooked sweetness meets the wine's dried-cherry and tobacco savour without either side dominating.
- Grilled beef salad, light on chilli (ยำเนื้อย่าง) — The grilled beef and toasted rice powder echo the wine's savoury side, but ask the kitchen to hold the chilli back: at 14.5% alcohol this Riserva amplifies capsaicin heat rather than absorbing it.
Pierluigi Talenti spent decades shaping Brunello di Montalcino's modern identity — first as head winemaker at Il Poggione, then from 1980 as the architect of his own estate at Pian di Conte in the southern Sant'Angelo in Colle sector, where he personally selected Sangiovese clones through the 1970s and 1980s that remain genetically distinct from most Montalcino peers. The Riserva Pian di Conte is sourced exclusively from the estate's oldest vines near the property's centre at roughly 400 m a.s.l., where sandy loam over Galestro marl and clay with rock fragments drives the tension between structural grip and mineral transparency that defines this southern-sector address.
Fermentation proceeds in temperature-controlled stainless steel at 28–29°C, followed by an extended 25–30-day skin maceration that builds the tannin architecture without resorting to extraction shortcuts. Aging unfolds in a combination of Allier and Slavonian oak — a deliberate pairing that layers spice and oxidative complexity without the vanilla dominance of heavy new French barriques. The Riserva is bottled only in exceptional years, making 2019 a rare release.
What separates this from the appellation's two dominant camps — ultra-traditional large-botti and modernist barrique-heavy — is Talenti's middle path: medium-format oak, proprietary clonal material, and parcel-by-parcel vinification that keeps site character legible. The 2019 growing season delivered the power typical of Sant'Angelo in Colle alongside mouthwatering freshness — juicy blue fruit, floral lift, balsamic and earthy licorice — with a drinking window opening from approximately 2027.
Details
- Country
- Italy
- Region
- Tuscany
- Subregion
- Brunello di Montalcino
- Variety
- Sangiovese
- Vintage
- 2019
- Bottle size
- 750 ml
Taste profile
- Body
- Full
- Acidity
- Medium-High
- Tannin
- High
Pairs well with
- Grilled red meat & steak
- Tomato-based pasta
- Mushroom & truffle dishes
- Braised & slow-cooked meat
- Lamb dishes
Sommelier’s pick: Bistecca alla Fiorentina with rosemary-salted crust · Aged Pecorino di Pienza with truffle honey · Braised short rib with juniper and bay
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