Sasso di Luna is the label used for wines from the younger vineyards of Sasso di Sole, which is a Montalcino winery founded by the Terzuoli family in the 17th century.  The estate is located about seven miles northeast of Montalcino in a very sunny location within the denomination.  The vineyards soils are a combination of clay and limestone and which produce wines of great expressiveness and structure.

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Finding a Montalcino supplier who was not making "manipulated" wines was also pretty challenging and took years of time and research.  There were unfortunately so many disappointing tastings of "international style" wines manipulated with cultured yeasts, too much new oak barrels used for maturation, and too much filtering to give the impression of an "elegant and refined" wine, I guess to attempt to justify the higher price of Montalcino wines.

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I don't look for "elegant and refined" however, or "smooth and polished" as I'm looking for a pure expression of each grape varietal and the minerals in the soil where the vineyards are located.  And so, in 2024, a friend in Italy suggested that I taste wines from Sasso di Sole and I was particularly struck by the expressiveness of their Sasso di Luna wines.

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What really made an impression was their Rosso di Montalcino, which is usually a sort of neglected poor cousin to the Brunellos produced by Montalcino wineries.  Rosso di Montalcino is effectively an afterthought for most producers as the grapes used are usually the grapes not selected for an estate's Brunello and a lot of Rosso di Montalcino is sort of boring and not at all distinctive.

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But the Sasso di Luna Rosso di Montalcino that I tasted was incredibly vibrant and alive and a spectacular example of the terroir where its vineyards are located.  In fact, it was probably better than 80 percent of the Brunellos that I've tasted over the five years that I had been searching for a possible Montalcino supplier.  The Brunello was then a densely expressive example of that wine and with a structure that would age very well for at least 20 years.

There was also a third impressive wine which was their Orcia Sangiovese, which was also made with Sangiovese Grosso which is the clone used for both Brunello and Rosso di Montalcino.  The Val d'Orcia is a north/south running valley that lies between the hill towns of Montalcino to the west and Montepulciano, which is 20 miles to the east.  The valley is also a UNESCO World Heritage site for its natural beauty and long history as a fertile agricultural area.

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Aside the expressiveness of the Sasso di Luna wines, however, was yet another example in my portfolio of a spectacular cellar for the wine making.  Although I effectively don't look for much "wine making" as prefer just the pure natural expression of each grape varietal, I have also found that is best accomplished in the pristine cellars that are a common characteristic across my portfolio.  The attention to detail of the winery was definitely seen with their state of the art equipment and a pristinely clean cellar environment.

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