Guidotti

The Guidotti family came to Montepulciano in 1967 from nearby Val d’Orcia. They were most fortunate to have landed in the Cervognano zone which soon became known as a top cru for Vino Nobile. Two brothers, Angelo and Alvaro, started the farm and today their sons, Massimiliano and Daniele, respectively, are doing the heavy lifting as agronomist and winemaker, respectively.

They started with baby steps, a tiny production of wine that was sold in bulk to locals. Today they have grown into a tiny production of 15,000 bottles between Rosso and Nobile (75%) carefully selected from their 5 hectares of Sangiovese (with a few cannaiolo and Trebbiano vines). Plus they hold another 20 hectares of land, devoted in growing corn, barley and hay to feed their Chianina cattle; the other half of the operation.

If there were tractors instead of wine-making equipment the cellar would be a garage. Danile’s proudest possessions are their original glass-lined cement vats. By the 1980s most of these vats were broken up to make way for steel containers. Not the Guidottis, they stand as proof of the old-timey, nothing forced, hands-off philosophy. Massimiliano snaps, “Philosophy!? Doesn’t put bread on the table”.