Le Ragnaie

History

Le Ragnaie is a family-owned estate in the Montalcino appellation run by Riccardo Campinoti, who took over the property from his father and gradually shifted its focus toward expressive, site-specific Brunello. The estate's name refers to a hilltop locality south of Montalcino town, where the family's original vineyards are situated. Over the past two decades, Campinoti has expanded holdings to include parcels at Montosoli, the celebrated north-facing cru in the Torrenieri area that has attracted significant attention for producing some of the appellation's most elegant and aromatic Sangiovese. The progression from a single-estate Brunello producer to one with multiple named single-vineyard bottlings reflects both an accumulation of well-placed land and a deliberate editorial stance on what makes each site worth isolating.

Vineyards

Le Ragnaie's holdings span meaningfully different parts of the Montalcino denomination. The estate's home vineyards sit at relatively high elevation on the southern and southwestern slopes of the hill, where galestro-rich soils and cooler night temperatures give wines a firmer structural backbone and slower phenolic development. The Montosoli vineyard, farmed under the Casanovina designation, occupies one of the most discussed parcels in the appellation: a north-facing amphitheater of alberese and clay soils at moderate elevation near the northern boundary of the zone, known for producing Sangiovese with lifted aromatics, precise acidity, and fine tannin. The old-vine bottling, labeled V.V., draws from the estate's oldest Sangiovese plantings. Passo del Lume Spento and Fornace represent additional single-site selections from within the broader estate holdings. Farming practices lean toward sustainability and reduced intervention, though the estate has not widely publicized formal organic or biodynamic certification.

Winemaking

Campinoti works with Sangiovese Grosso (Brunello clone) across all bottlings, fermenting in traditional vessels with extended maceration suited to the grape's tannic structure. Aging follows Brunello di Montalcino DOCG requirements at minimum, with the single-vineyard and old-vine wines typically spending additional time in large-format Slavonian oak casks rather than small barriques, a choice that preserves aromatic clarity and avoids superimposing wood character on site-specific fruit. The V.V. bottling, sourced from the oldest vines, tends to show the most concentration and textural depth of the lineup. The Montosoli Casanovina, by contrast, is typically the most transparent and tensile of the range, a consistent argument for that site's distinctiveness within Montalcino. Across the lineup, the winemaking is oriented toward legibility of place rather than extraction or new-oak weight.