Col d'Orcia

Col d’Orcia literally means the hill overlooking the Orcia River. The Orcia River marks the South West border of the Brunello di Montalcino territory and the name of the farm is intrinsically linked to the physical location were the vineyards are planted. It is the mission of Col d’Orcia to produce the best possible wines that the exceptional combination of soil and climate of this part of Montalcino can achieve.

At Col d’Orcia, for many years now, we have always ascribed high value to the natural environment in which we operate. For this reason in the year 2010 we took the decision of submitting to the organic farming certification process in order to become the largest organic wine producing farm in the whole of Tuscany. Since August 27, 2010 the whole estate including vineyards, olive groves, other fields and even the gardens are farmed following exclusively organic agricultural practices. We are very proud of this achievement and we can rightfully define Col d’Orcia as an organic island in Montalcino.

The estate is located on the southern slope of the Montalcino territory and is an integral part of the Orcia Valley, the Val d’Orcia. The Val d’Orcia is a unique territory that was declared part of the Patrimony of Humanity in the year 2004. UNESCO explains as follows the reasons for this: “The Val d’Orcia is an exceptional reflection of the way the landscape was rewritten in pre-renaissance times to reflect the ideals of good government and to create an aesthetically pleasing picture celebrated by painters from the Siennese school. The Val d’Orcia has come to be seen as icon of the landscape which has profoundly influenced the development of landscape thinking”.

On the hill overlooking the Orcia River, were the vineyards are planted, you can still today see some very old olive trees planted in rows. They have survived for more than 4 centuries and testify the uniqueness of the microclimate on the Col d’Orcia hill. Already 400 years ago this part of Montalcino was an agricultural exploitation thanks to the particularly favorable conditions of soil and climate.

The vineyards are located on the southern slope of the Montalcino territory, on hilly lands and extend over 540 hectares, from the Orcia River to the village of Sant’Angelo in Colle, at about 450 metres over sea level.Its position is extremely favorable as it faces south directly, and it is also protected by the barrier of Mount Amiata (1.750 meters) against meteorological events such as floods or hail, and to the mild climate coming from the Tyrrhenian coast, in the west, where the sea is some 35 km away. The nature of the soil is undoubtedly favorable to grape growing, with fundamentally loose grounds, poor in clay and rich in limestone and inert materials.

The area is not affected by fog, ice or late frost, whereas the frequent breezes guarantee the best conditions for the vine health conditions. Its climate is typically Mediterranean, with limited rainfalls concentrated in the months of March, April, November and December. The high number of sunny days throughout the whole vegetative season ensures a gradual and complete grape ripening. The vineyards facing south and the particular nature of the soil convey notes of structure and elegance to the Brunello produced on this side of Montalcino.

At Col d’Orcia, for many years now, we have always ascribed high value to the natural environment in which we operate. For this reason in the year 2010 we took the decision of submitting to the organic farming certification process in order to become the largest organic wine producing farm in the whole of Tuscany. Since August 27, 2010 the whole estate including vineyards, olive groves, other fields and even the gardens are farmed following exclusively organic agricultural practices. We are very proud of this achievement and we can rightfully define Col d’Orcia as an organic island in Montalcino.

Col d'Orcia wines are estate produced and bottled, with grapes grown mostly on the estate and partly in surrounding farms whose vineyards are supervised by Col d’Orcia during the whole productive cycle. The high density of planting, the choice of the rootstock suitable for the characteristics of each piece of land, the use of highly selected clones and an overall attention to the characteristics of each single vineyard ensure a limited production per plant aimed at achieving high quality grapes, healthy, concentrated and rich in colour and tannins. Farming techniques include grass mulching, cluster thinning at the “veraison” and perfect ripening of the grapes on the plant.
Attention to detail characterizes the wine making process at Col d'Orcia , the same given to every other step of the production cycle. The harvest, carried out exclusively by hand, is regulated by precise analysis in order to ensure the optimal phenolic maturation of every bunch collected: a sorting table at the entrance of the cellar allows an even more detailed selection.
Fermentation is conducted in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks shaped so that the surface of contact between juice and skins ensures optimal delicate extraction of the high quality ingredients such as polyphenols and colouring matters. Ageing in wood takes place in Slavonian and selected French oaks. The size of the barrels and the time of ageing vary according to the characteristics of each batch. For some wines ageing in wood can take as long as 4 years. Finally the bottles are kept for further ageing on the estate until their refinement is completed. Therefore we can really state that each bottle of our wine is handcrafted.