The Poggio Antico Journal – Ep. 7: Notes from November

November is always a peculiar month. Everything slows down – and yet nothing really stops. Harvest is behind us, but there’s still that quiet hum of activity as the year winds down: final bottlings to complete, last shipments to send, reports, budgets, plans. It’s a time when we work as much with our heads as with our hands, and that calls for a different kind of focus.

The cellar is following its own rhythm. We’ve started bottling the 2022 Riserva and Vigna i Poggi, which won’t see the market before 2027. At the same time, we’re continuing work on the wines from this year’s harvest – racking is done, lees removed, and the wines are now entering the ageing phase. 

The 2025 vintage has been a tricky one from the start, with heat spikes in May and August that made us sweat a bit, but the vineyard held up well. Tasting now, there’s real satisfaction – almost surprise, as always. We know our grapes well, yet they still manage to exceed expectations. It’s too early to make any bold claims – every wine has its own path – but the foundation is there, and so far, it’s solid. Some have already begun comparing it to great vintages of the past. As for me, I’d rather stay grounded by default: let time have the final word.

We’ve just returned from Benvenuto Brunello. It’s always helpful to see how our wines are perceived beyond our daily context – it gives us a sense of whether the path we’ve chosen is really communicating what we want it to.

This year, the feedback was deeply encouraging, both for our Brunello and for Vigna i Poggi, our single-vineyard Brunello that has become a central part of our story. It’s a wine that feels very close to who we are – born from the desire to understand and express the impact of altitude in Brunello. We weren’t looking to make something “different” for the sake of it, but rather to paint a portrait of a specific place.

Because at the end of the day, I think that’s what wine should do: not just reflect technique, but speak of the place it comes from. If I could bring everyone who drinks our wines here – have them walk the rows, see how the light shifts in the afternoon, breathe the air rising from the woods – I would.

Since that’s not always possible, our wine is the closest thing. It’s the clearest way to bring people here, to this place – which is why it’s our job to capture its character as truthfully and clearly as we can.

The first three vintages of Vigna i Poggi are showing us we’re on the right path. With 2019, we had our first confirmation; with 2020, a sense of clarity. And now, with the early impressions from 2021, you can feel a continuous thread growing stronger.

Critical response doesn’t change our day-to-day work, but it does affirm that what we see here is being felt beyond our borders too. Sarah Heller MW called i Poggi one of the finest examples of “high-altitude Brunello.” Colin Hay noted the precision and depth of the first two vintages. Monica Larner highlighted its freshness and structure. Others – from Vinum to The Wine Independent to Jancis Robinson – have recognised the linearity and consistency in its style. The latest feedback, 97 points from Danielle Callegari of Wine Enthusiast, came with a note we particularly appreciated: “Expectations were high – and they were exceeded.” We’re deeply grateful, as always.

On the commercial side, the global slowdown in red wine is something we all feel. But Montalcino continues to be a touchstone for those seeking true value and quality. 2025 will likely become a new baseline – something more sustainable after the extremes of the post-pandemic years.

And so we keep going, one step at a time. November is a month for tidying things up, for closing what needs to be closed, and for preparing what’s next. In a few weeks, we’ll start looking toward the new year with greater clarity, and begin tracing the next steps on the path.