Pian dell'Orino
Caroline Pobitzer arrived in Montalcino from South Tyrol in 1997 with a clear vision. Before moving, she had managed her family's estate, a Renaissance castle at the foot of which grew one of Europe's oldest vines—over six hundred years old. When she purchased the land at Pian dell'Orino, a stone's throw from Biondi Santi's Greppo, she brought with her the same instinctive attention to the vine as a living organism. The consultant she hired was Jan Hendrik Erbach, a German enologist and agronomist trained at the Geisenheim Academy and refined in France with years of natural viticulture. Their professional relationship soon evolved, and today they run the estate together with the same vision they started with.
The vineyards span 6 hectares and have been biodynamic since 2003, cultivated with nettle, horsetail, and yarrow herbal teas, biodynamic preparations, spontaneous grass cover, and year-round soil cultivation. The only grape variety is Sangiovese Grosso, the Brunello: all the company's work is concentrated on a single grape variety, in a single place, with a single idea. In the cellar—a cylinder partially embedded in the hillside, built for gravity-flow processing without pumps—spontaneous fermentations, long macerations, large oak barrels, no additives, no selected yeasts. Jan's philosophy is direct: "the cellar plays a minor or major role depending on the grapes you bring in." Wine is made in the vineyard. The cellar merely ensures it isn't ruined.
The result is Brunellos of great depth and classic character—austere, fruity, savory, with tannins that demand time but reward the wait. The Rosso di Montalcino follows the same path, with less wood and more immediacy. Pian dell'Orino is a small winery that in a few years has become a benchmark for those seeking Brunello in its most authentic and unmediated version.
Caroline Pobitzer arrived in Montalcino from South Tyrol in 1997 with a clear vision. Before moving, she had managed her family's estate, a Renaissance castle at the foot of which grew one of Europe's oldest vines—over six hundred years old. When she purchased the land at Pian dell'Orino, a stone's throw from Biondi Santi's Greppo, she brought with her the same instinctive attention to the vine as a living organism. The consultant she hired was Jan Hendrik Erbach, a German enologist and agronomist trained at the Geisenheim Academy and refined in France with years of natural viticulture. Their professional relationship soon evolved, and today they run the estate together with the same vision they started with.
The vineyards span 6 hectares and have been biodynamic since 2003, cultivated with nettle, horsetail, and yarrow herbal teas, biodynamic preparations, spontaneous grass cover, and year-round soil cultivation. The only grape variety is Sangiovese Grosso, the Brunello: all the company's work is concentrated on a single grape variety, in a single place, with a single idea. In the cellar—a cylinder partially embedded in the hillside, built for gravity-flow processing without pumps—spontaneous fermentations, long macerations, large oak barrels, no additives, no selected yeasts. Jan's philosophy is direct: "the cellar plays a minor or major role depending on the grapes you bring in." Wine is made in the vineyard. The cellar merely ensures it isn't ruined.
The result is Brunellos of great depth and classic character—austere, fruity, savory, with tannins that demand time but reward the wait. The Rosso di Montalcino follows the same path, with less wood and more immediacy. Pian dell'Orino is a small winery that in a few years has become a benchmark for those seeking Brunello in its most authentic and unmediated version.
