Canalicchio di Sopra Brunello di Montalcino 2013

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

About Canalicchio di Sopra

Founded by Primo Pacenti in 1962, in 1987 Primo was joined by son inlaw Pier Luigi Ripaccioli.

Combine their lands under the Canalicchio di Sopra brand, they added the highly-esteemed Montosoli cru into the blend of their Brunello, along with the long-standing Canalicchio. The trend at the time was to blend vineyards from the north and south of Montalcino, hoping to find balance between the two.

However, Pacenti and Ripaccioli made the defining choice to remain a fully northern producer of Brunello. These two vineyards perfectly contrasted each other’s attributes, as Montosoli brought a unique blend of soils to the mix, made up of galestro, as today’s generation, represented by Francesco Ripaccioli, has described to me as “the most Chianti Classico-like in Montalcino.” However, over time, Francesco Ripaccioli couldn’t help but notice the amount of unique micro-terroirs that existed throughout their holdings.

His experimentation started with the 2013 Riserva, which was sourced entirely from the Montosoli vineyard, and it continues with the 2015 La Casaccia, another single-vineyard Brunello from vines planted in 1990, within the Canalicchio Cru. Frankly, it’s an exciting time to be watching the work of Francesco and his family, as they are at the forefront of Montalcino’s most exciting endeavor – the understanding and classification of the region’s diverse terroirs.

Since 2001, Canalicchio di Sopra has been in the highly capable, thoughtful hands of Pier Luigi’s three children, Francesco, Simonetta and Marco.

In the Vineyard

The soils of the Canalicchio parcels are largely clay with pebbles and strong mineral content, resulting in wines of aromatic intensity, opulence, and minerality. It is the extraordinary elegance, latent power, balance, and silky tannins of the Casaccia parcel which for some years now have seen it bottled separately.

The Montosoli soils are marl with very high mineral components, clay loam texture with higher levels of lime, with the pebbly texture increasing the pH. The resultant wines show great structure, minerality and sapidity.

The diurnal temperature range (the difference between day and night temps) supports ripening fruit while maintaining acid and freshness.

In the Winery

The Rosso di Montalcino and the Brunello di Montalcino are based on the parcels of Canalicchio and Montosoli, located on the northern side of Montalcino, and which combined total 19 hectares planted.

The wines are fermented in temperature control steel tanks, daily soft pumping over. Maceration on the skins for around 25 days

These sites lend themselves to elegant fine, perhaps even Burgundian wines, they’re not built to hand small new oak. Canalicchio di Sopra ages their wines in 2,500 & 5,000L Slavonian oak botti for 36 months.

The 2013 Vintage

From the Winery:

For us, the 2013 vintage in Montalcino is a great return to the classic vintage, meant as the ability of a wine to express the essence of its territory of origin. There are vintages that the producer falls in love with in the cellar because the wine holds within it an extraordinary elegance that the producer can already envision in the future, just like bottles that remain etched in the history of their wineries.

The Concept of a Classic Vintage:

A classic vintage means elegance, depth, and sensuality to us, concepts that are dear to our winemaking philosophy and ones that we expect from the Cru in Canalicchio and Montosoli where our vineyards are located in Montalcino. A classic vintage means wines that are bestowed with great freshness, where depth counts more than opulence, and where sapidity denotes a balanced climate. Terroir means soil, climate, and man, and these three components come together in great harmony without one dominating the other in a classic vintage.

“Canalicchio di Sopra” Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2013 – THE RETURN OF THE CLASSIC VINTAGE:

“Canalicchio di Sopra” Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2013 is the result of the climatic characteristics of the vintage, characteristics which, for their steadiness and for the low average seasonal temperatures, are able to completely exalt the terrain and the location where the grapes grow. A wine that we believe unites elegance, depth, minerality, and sapidity.Grapes from the two estate Crus were used to make this wine (Canalicchio 40% and Montosoli 60%): the choice to increase Montosoli over the traditional 50/50 is due to the better concentration in the grapes in this area.The balance that we looked for in this wine, a dear concept to Canalicchio di Sopra, is based on continuity between nose and mouth based on freshness and florality. The existing and distinguishing acidity seems to be part of a long silky tannic motif.

Where in the World is Canalicchio di Sopra?

Canalicchio di Sopra is Montalcino. There main vineyards are on the exceptional terroirs of Montosoli and Canalichhio Crus. The winery has a number of individual sub-plots in each Cru.