Villa Poggio Salvi is an estate winery in Località Poggio Salvi on the southern side of the Montalcino hill, in  Tuscany, Italy. It overlooks the Tyrrhenian Sea. Its clean air perfumed by the dense oak forests nearby account for its name Poggio Salvi or ‘healthy hill’, a salubrious and pure area, where people used to find shelter from diseases and viruses. The estate was said to have been serving wine in the 16th-century (Montalcino archives).

 

 

Owners: The owners, the Belingardi family also own Poggio Salvi, another Tuscan estate also in Siena Province but to the north in Sovicille, south west of Siena. In 1979 Pierluigi Tagliabue purchased the company, and began restructuring the estate. Later, Pierluigi Tagliabue co-created a distribution company with Jacopo Biondi-Santi called Biondi-Santi spa, which see. In 1998 the Chianti estate called Casavecchia was added.

The estate makes Rosso di Montalcino DOC and Brunello di Montalcino DOCG red wines. It also produces a Moscadello di Montalcino DOC sweet white made from Moscato Bianco (Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains, Muscat de Frontignan).

Contact: Luca Belingardi. He studied wine making at Milan University. He manages the winery. ‘It’s my family’s winery. My grandfather [Pierluigi Tagliabue] bought the estate in 1979, like a countryside residence. He came from the north of Italy originally, close to Milano. He came to this area because he loved the Montalcino countryside and was not thinking about the wine side at all. Then little by little he enlarged Villa Poggio Salvi’s winery and vineyard. Nowadays we have 20 hectares of vines here in Montalcino, all in this area around the house, and another 20 hectares of vines on the Casavecchia estate in Localita’ Casavecchia, Monteriggioni (SI) in the Chianti area [this was acquired in 1998],’ Luca told me. In Monteriggioni in the Chianti area the soil is much more fertile than in Montalcino, and richer in clay, so it is easier for each vine to produce more bottles of wine than in Montalcino. In Monteriggioni, in this kind of clay soil, we get seven tons per hectare. It is quite average for that area.

Staff: Angela Marconi.

Vineyards: 20 hectares of vines in Montalcino, all in the area around the house, and another 20 hectares of vines on the Casavecchia estate in Monteriggioni in the Chianti area which was acquired in 1998.

Terroir: Poggio Salvi enjoys one of the highest positions in Montalcino, the reason his grandfather Pierluigi Tagliabue bought it. Poggio Salvi’s name means “healthy hilltop”. ‘Poggio’ is a Tuscan word meaning “small hill” and Salvi means “health” [one must salve a wound to heal it]. In the 15th-century in the low-lying, flat marshy area of the Maremma along the Tuscan coast malaria was being carried and spread by mosquitoes. To escape people had to move to much higher ground away from the coast, and they came to high area like Monte Amiata and Montalcino. Poggio Salvi became a safe, healthy refuge.

Luca Belingardi told me ‘we are to the south side of Montalcino [south-facing]. That means a lot of sun and heat for the vines but this is balanced by the third important thing which is the altitude. All our vineyards are from 350 to 480 metres above sea level and this gives a good temperature exchange between day and night, especially before harvest when it’s very important to have a good difference [in temperature] between the hot day, and the cool nights to have a good extraction of flavors and aroma in the wine.

Soil: 90% of the vineyards are on Galestro – click the link see Luca Belingardi’s comments of this soil type. 

Winery: Designed by EMBT (Enric Miralles Benedetta Tagliabue), architect Enric Miralles, Pierluigi Tagliabue’s brother-in-law, and Benedetta Tagliabue, Pierluigi Tagliabue’s daughter.

Winemaking: Stainless steel vats for fermention. For the reds controlled temperature of 26 to 28 Celsius for around 12, 14 days. MLF in tank. The main difference is the aging period. Two and a half years for the Brunello di Montalcino, one year for the Rosso di Montalcino. Ageing in Slavonian oak vats of 30, 60 and 100hl.

Red wines

Lavischio, Toscana Rosso IGT: Lavischio Merlot is named after a small river that borders part of the vineyards. On marl and clay. 300-500 metres. The image on the label of a woman with hair of grapes is the Pomona, the Roman Goddess of Fruit. It sees little oak aging time (3 months in Slavonian oak). |  2018 L.912. 13.5% alc Simple mid-weight red with dark, slightly herbaceous, fairly smooth fruit (tasted April 2020).

Rosso di Montalcino DOC: 2011 From younger vines. 22,000 bottles. Cherry nose, bit oxidised at the finish (Anteprima 2014).  2013 OK, simple, a bit green (Anteprima 2015)

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG: 2000 Not bad if attenuated, excessive new oak at Benvenuto Brunello 18 Feb 2005. | 2009 50,000 bottles. Evolved and drying out (Anteprima 2014). | 2009 L-B332. 13.5%. Bright cedar garnet right the way across. Not much nose but what is there comprises some delicate minty red fruit. The palate is attractively fluffy and with an impression of pumpness but not weight in reality. Hint of green/bitterness at the end from the grapes not the oak I think. Just blunts the overall effect slightly at the Consorzio Tues 27th May 2014 with Ian d’Agata and others. | 2010 45,000 bottles. Nice fluid style, OK, savoury, not overdone (Anteprima 2015).

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Pomona: A ‘cru’ rather than a ‘toponomo’ Luca Belingardi told me at Benvenuto Brunello 2015. | 2010 debut. | 2010 1,300 bottles. 30 months in botti. Bit more sweetness in this compared to the Brunello 2010 annata (Anteprima 2015)

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Riserva: 2001 Produced. | 2004 Produced. | 2006 Produced. | 2007 3,000 bottles2,000–3,00 bottles.

Dried Grape wines 

Moscadello di Montalcino DOC, Aurico: 2–3,000 bottles. ‘For the Moscato Bianco harvest takes place one month later [after the Sangiovese harvest). The reason is to give a high concentration of sugar in the grapes by letting some of the water in the juice evaporate. For this reason also the quantity is very limited and we make only two or three thousand half bottles. It’s a sweet wine, of course, around 85 grams of sugar per litre but it has a good level of acidity,’ Luca Belingardi told me. | 2007 Produced. 3,000 bottles. Fermented in carati di rovere. Sour nose and palate, also simple, oxidised, initial savoury flavours then dominated by oak (at Benvenuto Brunello 2014. Bit simple, fat and a bit oxidised (Anteprima 2015)

Contact

Villa Poggio Salvi, Soc. Agr. Poggio Salvi di Montalcino s.r.l.,

Località Poggio Salvi

53024 Montalcino (SI), Italy

Tel+39 0577 847121 | Website: www.villapoggiosalvi.it

Sales: Matthew Clark Bibendum, Bristol (UK importer).