[Akyung Wine Cellar] The Kiss of Montalcino Terroir... Capturing a Year in a Single Bottle

<38> Italy's "Stella di Campalto"
Montalcino's First Biodynamic Certification,
Small-Scale Production of Fewer Than 20,000 Bottles Annually
One Vintage, Multiple Brunellos: The "Masse" Structure
Capturing Terroir Differences in Every Bottle

Editor's NoteNo two wines are the same under the sky. Even when grapes are grown on the same land and vinified and aged in the same way each year, the results are always different. Wine is a "drink of chance" created by the harmony between humans and nature. Each wine, which quietly disappears after leaving only a single intense memory, carries its own fascinating story. "Akyung Wine Cellar" brings you the stories of wines, each shaped and matured under different circumstances, one by one.

Scenery of the 'San Giuseppe' vineyard of Stella di Campalto.
[Photo by Stella di Campalto]

Montalcino, located 40 kilometers south of Siena in the Tuscany region of Italy, was one of the poorest areas in southern Tuscany and relatively unknown even within Italy until the 1970s. However, in 1980, Brunello di Montalcino (BDM) was recognized with the DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata Garantita) designation, and today it has become not only the pride of Tuscany but also one of Italy's most renowned red wine regions.

A Hill Off the Beaten Path: San Giuseppe

About 10 kilometers further south from the center of Montalcino, on a hill removed from the usual tourist routes and the maps of famous producers, lies Podere San Giuseppe. Although this land had long been home to vineyards, it was abandoned for decades after World War II. It was Stella Viola di Campalto who revived this dormant land in 1992.

Scenery of the 'San Giuseppe' vineyard by Stella di Campalto.
[Photo by Stella di Campalto]

Stella Viola believed that she did not discover the San Giuseppe vineyard, but rather that she was chosen by this special vineyard. She dreamed of crafting wines that captured the essence of its nature and the passage of time.

In pursuit of high-quality wines that reflect the terroir of Podere San Giuseppe, she adopted organic farming in 1995 and, in 2005, became the first in the Montalcino area to earn biodynamic certification. Biodynamic agriculture excludes chemical fertilizers and pesticides, treating the soil, plants, microorganisms, and celestial rhythms as a single ecosystem. Stella di Campalto produces fewer than 20,000 bottles annually from a small vineyard of just over 8 hectares-a scale that is the result of deliberate choice, not coincidence.

A Refusal to Homogenize the Soil: 14 Plots, a Structure that Rejects Uniformity

Stella Viola di Campalto, owner and winemaker of Stella di Campalto.
[Photo by Stella di Campalto]

San Giuseppe is home to nine main vineyards: Leccio, Curva, Sasso, Bassa, Bosco, Ulivo, Tondino, Quercia, and Est. Leccio features clay marl and limestone, Curva is a mix of sandstone and siltstone, and Sasso is exposed limestone. Though situated on the same hill, the soils "speak different languages."

The soil here has a pH of 8.4 to 8.8, contains little organic matter, and retains little moisture. Some plots even suffer from erosion. By conventional standards, these are challenging conditions for farming. However, Stella did not view this heterogeneity as a problem. In fact, refusing to integrate these differences was the starting point for the winery.

Map of San Giuseppe Vineyard by Stella di Campalto. [Source=Stella di Campalto]

Thus, the vineyard is further divided into 14 subplots. Stella treats each plot as a living entity, with different pruning times, harvest dates, and yields. All grapes are fermented separately by plot. Only indigenous yeasts are used for natural fermentation, with no artificial starters.

The only intervention allowed in the cellar is oxygen. Pumping over-drawing juice from the bottom of the fermentation tank and pouring it back over the top-is performed for one hour every six hours, without pause, even at night and on weekends. Once fermentation is complete, the wine flows by gravity into the aging cellar, where malolactic fermentation and further aging take place. Stella tastes every barrel weekly; for her, this repetition is not labor, but training to ensure she does not miss the subtle differences between plots.

Grape juice of Stella di Campalto.
Photo by Stella di Campalto

'Masse': Interpretation, Not Combination

Only after this process does the concept of "Masse" emerge. Introduced in 2011, Masse is a unique approach designed to fully express the subtle differences between vineyard plots. Each plot "speaks a different language." In some years, a single plot becomes a wine; in others, several plots are combined based on sensory perception. There is no formula for this combination. Only the year’s climate, the flow felt in the cellar, and the character of the wine in the barrel serve as criteria. As a result, four to five different Brunello di Montalcino wines are produced from a single vintage. For Stella di Campalto, blending is not about creating an average, but about interpreting differences without erasing them.

Traditional Brunello from Montalcino seeks to represent a year with a single bottle. While this approach is easy to understand, it inevitably erases much. The soils of Leccio and Sasso are blended into an average, and the texture of Curva is absorbed into the structure. Stella believes that this summary damages the terroir. Therefore, she listens to each plot’s wine to the end before considering any combination. For her, a vintage is not something to be explained, but a structure to be deconstructed.

(from left) 'Stella di Campalto Brunello di Montalcino Aria 2018' and 'Stella di Campalto Brunello di Montalcino Bacia 2019'.

"Stella di Campalto Brunello di Montalcino Aria 2018" is emblematic of this philosophy. Aria is one of three 2018 vintage wines from Stella di Campalto, with only 4,287 bottles produced. "Aria" means "air" in Italian, and the name was inspired by the unique air circulation within the specific plot where the grapes are grown, which affects the ripening period of the fruit.

Aria is made from 100% Brunello. The name Brunello comes from "bruno," meaning brown in Italian. In 1879, after years of research, the Siena Committee for the Study of Grape Varieties determined that Montalcino’s Brunello is genetically identical to Sangiovese.

Brunello is a Sangiovese clone developed specifically for the terroir of Montalcino and is the only variety permitted under the Brunello di Montalcino DOCG. According to DOCG regulations, Brunello di Montalcino must be aged for at least 48 months, including a minimum of 24 months in oak and 4 months in bottle. The legal minimum alcohol content is 12.5%.

The wine is fermented using native yeasts from the vineyard in large oak casks of 20 to 40 hectoliters. After fermentation, the wine is aged for 34 months in 15 to 17 hectoliter barrels, followed by an additional 42 months of bottle aging before release. Aria is characterized by fresh, vibrant aromas of red currant, intense iris florals, and lingering notes of dark fruit, spice, and crushed flint. It is a wine where feather-soft tannins and complex minerality are beautifully balanced.

Brunello by Stella di Campalto.
Photo by Stella di Campalto

"Stella di Campalto Brunello di Montalcino Bacia 2019" is one of three 2019 vintage wines, with only 8,537 bottles produced. The name "Bacia," meaning "kiss" in Italian, was inspired by Stella’s belief that the wine’s soft texture and raspberry aroma evoke the sensation of a kiss.

Bacia is a vibrant yet robust wine, embodying the passion and abundant energy of an artist. It features silky, mouth-filling tannins and a complex depth that leaves a lasting impression. While its fermentation and aging structure are similar to Aria, its bottle aging period is shorter at 29 months.

A Producer Who Does Not Make Flagship Wines

Aging barrels of Stella di Campalto.
Photo by Stella di Campalto

Stella di Campalto does not have a flagship wine. Instead, each year is divided into several bottles. This approach is far from market logic-it is difficult to remember and cumbersome to explain. Yet, she refuses to give up this structure, believing that this inconvenience is a sign of respect for the land.

At San Giuseppe, multiple stories are always completed at once: the sentence written by the soil of Leccio, the tone left by the stones of Sasso, the space created by the air of Curva. Stella di Campalto does not combine these stories into one. Instead, she bottles them separately.

This is why Stella di Campalto’s wines linger long after explanation. They allow us to rediscover the many hidden faces within Montalcino, rather than just a single year of Montalcino. The reason Stella di Campalto divides her Brunello is simple: she was the first to realize that a single bottle could never tell the whole story.