Taste Testing Tenuta Pinino: The Historic Brunello Estate That Salvatore Ferragamo Spent Ten Years Trying To Buy
In 1874, a notary from Montalcino called Tito Costanti built a farmhouse on a slope just north of the town and named it Pinino. Back then, “Brunello di Montalcino” was barely a thing yet. The wine had been worked out only in the previous couple of decades, by Clemente Santi and a small circle of local landowners who found that the dark-skinned local strain of Sangiovese, if you picked it late and left it in barrel for years rather than months, gave you something far sturdier and longer-lived than the light, cheerful Tuscan reds everyone else was making. Costanti was part of that founding generation of Brunello.
So Pinino was there more or less at the beginning of Italy’s best-known prestige wine. It should be said that for most of the twentieth century, it remained a historic locally-respected Montalcino name, not yet attaining the international notoriety of the appellation’s loudest estates.
Then everything changed in 2024 when the Ferragamo family bought the place.
Il Borro Tenuta Agricola, the wine business of Ferruccio Ferragamo and his son, Salvatore Jr (grandchild of the legendary designer Salvatore Ferragamo), had acquired Pinino srl Società Agricola.
Estimates of the price ran to somewhere around 12 million euros. Il Borro took 21 hectares of land in total, of which 16.24 are planted to vines, a bottling line, a cellar, a house on the property, and the existing stock of wine going back to the 2012 vintage. The Pinino and the staff remained exactly the same.
It was later revealed that the Ferragamo family’s interest in acquiring the Pinino estate went back to the 1980s. Negotiation to buy Pinino also ran for a full ten years.
Salvatore Ferragamo Jr, head of the Ferragamo wine business, Il Borro (Source: Rene van Bakel)
As head of the family’s wine business Il Borro, Salvatore Ferragamo Jr explained in an interview with WineNews Italy: "In Tuscany, the topmost excellent territories that come to mind immediately are Montalcino and Bolgheri, and when the offer of Pinino in Montalcino was presented to us, we took advantage of it right away." His stated aim was to bring to Pinino what the family had done at its home estate: "attention to quality in every aspect, from the vineyard to winemaking, and more."
Here’s a story about a Brunello-pioneering property in a midst of a transformation that everyone's keeping an eye on.
The hillsides of Pinino
Pinino's vineyards sit in two separate blocks.
The original 3.5-hectare Pinino vineyard of Montosoli hill sits 284 metres above sea level on the north side of Montalcino, amongst the top most admired places in the whole appellation with a reputation for perfume and finesse. The soil is stony, filled with marl (a crumbly and flaky rock) and alberese (hard pale limestone), and drains freely without holding much water. Soils like these tend to give wines a lifted, fine-boned quality. The estate describes the wines from this block to show elegance with lively acidity, structure and a fruity note.
The oldest parcel of the Pinino vineyard dates back to 1980. Another hectare went in around 2000 and a further hectare in 2014, packed tightly at 5,000 to make each vine compete harder and bear more concentrated fruit.
The second block is called Canchi, and it is nearly four times the size: 12.75 hectares, also facing south-east, but higher, at 318 metres. The ground here is almost pure clay in the upper part, fading into silt and tuff lower down. Clay behaves close to the opposite of limestone. It holds water, ripens fruit more slowly and steadily, and tends to give broader, denser, more muscular wines. The estate explains that Canchi gives structure and intensity. These vines were planted between 1997 and 2007, averaging about twenty years old.
The standard Pinino Brunello is a blend of the two vineyards: old vines on limestone from the Pinino vineyard (providing elegance and lift), and fruit from clay from the Canchi vineyard (providing body and structure).
Winemaking at Pinino
Technical winemaking is led by respected Tuscan oenologist Stefano Chioccioli, who has been responsible for key innovations across the rest of Il Borro’s portfolio.
Parcels were studied one by one and always harvested by hand. Under new management, the vineyard approach appears to be more interventionist in the service of quality. The first interventions occurred in the vineyard. This saw a thorough cleaning of the vines, with the old rows thinned out and opened up so that they catch more of the wind, to reduce the risk of rot and help grapes ripen evenly. The team also conducted a significant green harvest in the first year under new management - a substantial part of the crop was pruned while still unripe, so that the vine focuses all its energies and nutrients into the remaining grapes. The team introduced more sustainable farming practices such as green manure, and eschewing insecticide and herbicides They then retained a larger canopy to provide natural shade and protect the bunches from heat and water stress.
In the cellar, fermentation happens in temperature-controlled steel tanks. The wine sits on its skins for 18 to 25 days. Ageing is at least 30 months in a combination of inactive large casks and barriques (that add some noticeable vanilla and oak spice).
The 2020 vintage was the first Brunello vintage released under Ferragamo ownership (the first wines made by the Ferragamos who only took over in 2024 are still resting in oak). For this release, the new team professed to be incredibly selective, declassifying a large amount of wine that could legally have been sold as Brunello and only permitting wine from the best-performing casks and barriques to be included.
All of their wines are 100% Sangiovese and range from the entry range Rosso di Montalcino to several cuvées of Brunello sourced or blended from different sites.
Thanks to Grand Vin, the appointed distributor for Pinino, we had the opportunity to taste the full range of these amazing wines in Singapore. These wines are available for purchase from Grand Vin here.
Wine Review: Pinino Rosso di Montalcino
A Rosso of the 2022 vintage. 100% Sangiovese with at least six months in oak.
Tasting Notes
Appearance: Ruby.
Aroma: Fragrant, lifted and lively with slight fresh florals. It opens on luscious cherry and indistinct red fruits, orange peels with fresh rose petals and lavender buds. There is a light balsamic thread. Beneath it is a gentle base of vanilla and sweet French oak.
Taste: Medium-light bodied. Luscious but with enough structure beneath to hold its shape. Soft, tart red fruits, cherries above all and some pomegranate, with that balsamic edge carried over from the nose. Tannins are fine, lightly grippy, and with the fruit and well-measured acidity. With time it gains steadily in umami, turning more savoury the longer it sits, touch of meatiness and unagi sauce.
Finish: Gently drying and moderate in length, it carries on into light, powdery florals. Gradually builds in its tannins, a grippy, dry oak tone at the back with a touch of cedar to it, some cherry skins and orange peel. Powdery florals right at the end.
My Thoughts
A crowd favourite and very easy to enjoy Rosso that is pretty much an open book – well-built for freshness and early drinking. This is Montalcino Sangiovese with the structure dialled back slightly: medium-light in body, luscious through the middle, and framed by tannins that grip without getting tight. There’s a give and take between fruit, tannins and acidity - it arrives as open and accessible cherry and orange peels, and then over the course of a glass turns steadily darker and more umami.
Wine Review: Pinino Brunello di Montalcino 2020
A Brunello of the 2020 vintage – the first vintage blended under the direction of the Ferragamo family. 100% Sangiovese, blending fruit from two blocks after the Riserva and single-vineyard selections have been taking out, and spends at least 30 months in a mix of inactive casks and barriques.
Tasting Notes
Appearance: Garnet.
Aroma: Richly fruited and perfumed. Opens with dark cherries, a touch of stemminess, orange peels, wild strawberries, mandarin blossoms and lavender. A light new leather note, with a slightly saline-mineral floor of fired clay and petrichor.
Taste: Medium-bodied here, the entry is smooth and velvety, and it carries itself with real elegance. Polished cherries, with a pomegranate tartness, then black fruits behind, with a cedar framing. Freshness and acidity is present but the edge has been taken off. Some soft malolactic tones by mid-palate, showing as a creamy, dairy roundedness. Light umami meatiness running under it, cured bresaola slices, held up by a crisp mineral tension. Lightly drying as it progresses towards the close.
Finish: Clean, tight and mineral. Crisp spring water, crushed rocks and saline notes with light coffee softened by milk chocolate, soft cedar carried over and a little more baking spice at the back.
My Thoughts
A balanced and rather graceful Brunello. This is step up in richness and definition compared to the Rosso but by no means a heavy Brunello – there’s still a lot of freshness, tart fruits (wild strawberries, pomegranates) and acidity to provide lift and balance, and it’s built on acidic and mineral tension with the florality of the nose carrying right through the palate as dark fruit perfume.
The severe selection done by the new Il Borro team here seems to have bought more precision and definition rather than pure intensity and concentration, and the wine feels more graceful and subtle even in a particularly challenging Montalcino vintage of 2020. Impressive work in the cellar.
Wine Review: Pinino Brunello di Montalcino Vigna Pinino 2020
A Brunello of the 2020 vintage. 100% Sangiovese, sourced only from the “Vigna Pinino” plot of the Pinino vineyard. Spent at least 30 months in a mix of inactive casks and barriques.
Tasting Notes
Appearance: Deep garnet.
Aroma: Layered, well-integrated and complex. Dark potpourri florals from the beginning with violets and rose petals, over dark and red fruits together, sour plums and cherries with blood oranges. There is a mossy garrigue influence underneath with light mint and menthol running alongside. More fresh earthiness coming across with a faint iron tang, some dried flowers and sweet cedar.
Taste: Medium-bodied, velvety and plush. The tannins are polished and the nose's fruit holds with dark cherries, pomegranates, cassis, with lactone-led notes running through the middle – soft coconut and cream sweetness, joined by light powdery florals at the back. A crack of black pepper with a light savoury turn towards the finish.
Finish: Long, lightly herbaceous and savoury. Light salinity with a touch of leatheriness spreading with indistinct savoury mediterranean herbs, with the garrigue notes making a reappearance.
My Thoughts
A very nicely textural Brunello with great integration of various dimensions and with tertiary character beginning to emerge. While it remains very age worthy, it’s already beginning to show hints of complex tertiary notes of leather, garrigue and dried-florals, and on that trajectory it should evolve very nicely over the next couple of years.
I imagine this will seriously reward a few more years in the cellar though there is already much pleasure to be had in its velvety and plush texture and very chewy tannins.
Wine Review: Pinino Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2019
A Brunello of the 2019 vintage. 100% Sangiovese, sourced from the oldest vines planted in 1980 in the Pinino vineyard, and the best of the Canchi vineyards, only released in strong years. Spent at least 36 months in a mix of inactive casks and barriques.
Tasting Notes
Appearance: Deep garnet.
Aroma: Rich and aromatic, fresh fruits have developed into richer stewed fruits. Cherry and raspberry preserves arriving immediately. Warm baking spices, vanilla among them, heavier orange peel notes, and underneath that a clean earthiness. Sweet dried rose and violet florals at the edge of the fruit.
Taste: Full-bodied, plush and polished with lightly powdery tannins. Rich red fruits fill the middle – cherry and raspberry preserves, wild strawberry and a light blueberry bush influence. Again, some light malolactic tones of creamy softness around the edges, cacao and light sandalwood notes carrying into the finish.
Finish: Long and perfumed. Highly defined potpourri florals, continued oak tones here, with cedar, bittersweet dark chocolate and a touch of tobacco ribbons.
My Thoughts
This appears the most powerful wine of the four, and the one most visibly shaped by its élevage. Full body, velvety tannins, cherry and raspberry preserve, warm spices.
Its generous fruit richness is held in place by more wood extraction, the tannins are velvety enough to constantly offer some gentle resistance across the palate and then giving its last word on the finish.
Another powerful and age-worthy Brunello that is already drinking very well today.
@CharsiuCharlie
