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This is a photography taken facing southward from Il Poggione's estate at the Amiata chain of extinct vulcano mountains. The Mt Amiata has been there for a very very long time and it will still be there much long after we are all gone. As that ancient Latins said, TEMPUS OMNIA VINCIT.
The world of our Montalcino and Sant'Angelo in Colle has changed a lot since my father was a young man. He remembers that when he was young and was the assistant winemaker at Il Poggione, the harvest came much later than it does now. The summer is warmer now because of the global warming and so we all have to pick our fruits sooner. Probably in the the 1970 decade when he was young there were about 100.000 bottles of Brunello di Montalcino produced every year. Today there are 7.000.000 for the 2004 vintage and there are over 250 members of the Consortium del Vino Brunello di Montalcino.
I and my father Fabrizio Bindocci were saddened to read the articles about the Brunello di Montalcino investigation and the conclusions of the investigators that five wineries have broken the rules of the Brunello di Montalcino "disciplinare" or "appellation's regulation". But we are also glad that this chapter in the long history of our land is concluded. There are 250 producers and many were controlled over and over again. But the investigators only found that five have broken the rule.
At Il Poggione, we have always made Brunello with "Sangiovese in purezza", 100% Sangiovese. We know that things change with the passing of the years but we are glad that Brunello is still 100% and that the Mt. Amiata still protects Il Poggione's estate from the bad weather that can arrive from the South. It may have been a difficult year for Montalcino but Mt. Amiata is still there and our beloved Brunello di Montalcino is still "Sangiovese in purezza".
Behold a photograph of Mt. Amiata from the space.
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