Alessandro is the proud owner of the small 6-hectare DOCG Brunello winery, Il Marroneto. It's just outside of the walls of Montalcino, on high elevation and north-facing vineyards.
The winery gets its name from the old house, Il Marroneto, dating back to 1247. The house belonged to the small now desecrated church, Madonna delle Grazie.
Alessandro has vivid memories of the bells of the church that rang over the vineyards in his childhood. They would later on inspire him to make his award-winning Brunello.
The medieval church was a stop on the Francigena pilgrimage road (Sferacavalli locally in Montalcino - where the horses lost their shoes from the fatigue). In the middle ages, the nuns of the convent were used to receive tired travellers. The nuns made soup out of the local herbs called "Brodo del Viandante" and made bread out of chestnut flour, from the abundant Marrone chestnut trees. In order to make flour from chestnuts, they would dry the nuts first and that was the function of the house, hence called Il Marroneto. The soul of the winery.
Times have changed from a poor village to a prospering wine region, and oxen have turned into fancy cars for most wineries around Montalcino.
Alessandro now makes his cru Brunello from the vineyard right in front of the church, a location that connects him with the history of his land, Madonna delle Grazie.