Cerbaiona

Cerbaiona traces its roots back to 1454: tax records from that year show that it already existed, complete with fields, vineyards and a dwelling. Around this nucleus grew a bread oven, the tenant's lodging, a rooftop garden, a chapel and the owner's residence, which by the late nineteenth century had become known as a summer house. The manor house and small chapel date to the seventeenth century, and a majolica from 1815 on the villa's façade records the last restoration of the main building. The estate's wine label features one of the five towers of Montalcino's fortress, recalling the town's resistance in 1553 to a siege by the troops of Emperor Charles V and the Medici. Diego and Nora Molinari acquired Cerbaiona in 1977 and owned it for 38 years; the Brunello label was inaugurated with the 1981 vintage. In 2015 the Molinaris sold Cerbaiona to a group led by Gary Rieschel, for 6 million euros by Winenews estimates, and Matthew Fioretti, together with the group of investors led by Rieschel, took over the estate.

• 1454: tax records show Cerbaiona with fields, vineyards and a dwelling; the manor house and chapel date to the seventeenth century.
• 1977: acquired by Diego and Nora Molinari, owners for 38 years; the first Brunello under the label was the 1981.
• 2015: sold to a group of investors led by Gary Rieschel; Matthew Fioretti took over the estate with that group.

Cerbaiona has been led since 2015 by Gary Rieschel and Matthew Fioretti. Rieschel, born and raised in Portland in the United States, founded several venture capital firms and in 2015 headed Qiming Venture Partners in Shanghai; he had already invested in Castiglion del Bosco when he met the Molinaris. Under Fioretti's guidance the estate's rebirth covered the uprooting, replanting and extension of the vineyards, the construction of new underground cellars, the introduction of precision oenology, and the restoration of the villa with a new system of gardens. A close-knit team of oenologists works in the winery. The operating company is Cerbaiona Società Agricola Srl.

• Led since 2015 by Gary Rieschel and Matthew Fioretti.
• Diego and Nora Molinari owned the estate from 1977 to 2015.
• Operating company: Cerbaiona Società Agricola Srl, Loc. Cerbaia 146, Montalcino.

Starting in 2016, the vineyard was uprooted, replanted and expanded through a four-year process, so as not to interrupt production. Rootstock, clones and planting density were evaluated for the land's slopes and exposure, and drainage systems were installed. Plant material came primarily from the Guillaume nurseries, which have operated in Burgundy since 1895. All the new vineyards are trained in alberello, a system once widespread in Montalcino until the nineteenth century and largely abandoned with mechanization and the introduction of support wires. Each vine has its own stake, and the shoots are tied as they grow to form a gobelet with four arms for the more vigorous plants and three for the less vigorous. The steepest slope of the estate, once an olive grove, was turned into a vineyard, adding one hectare to the three already existing in the highest and steepest part of the hill and bringing the total vineyard area to four hectares. The 2021 Brunello was the first made from the replanted vineyards.

• Four hectares of vines at an estate 400 meters above sea level.
• Replanted and expanded from 2016 over four years, with plant material primarily from the Guillaume nurseries in Burgundy.
• Alberello training: each vine on its own stake, formed into a gobelet with three or four arms.
• A former olive grove on the steepest slope added one hectare.

A radical renewal of the winery began in 2016, with the construction of a second subterranean area built by driving 1.5 kilometers of micropiles into the ground; each phase of production has its own dedicated space. The underground vinification area is clad in cobalt-blue resin, was custom-designed with the Venetian company Lasi, and is equipped with specially made steel vats and a laboratory overlooking the cellar. An adjacent room for assemblage and bottling houses non-vitrified concrete tanks, and a new barrel room with cross-vaulted ceilings, marked with the seal of a sixteenth-century vincellaro, is used for ageing. The 2021 vintage was vinified in the new winery. Only free-run wine is used in the Brunello and Rosso di Montalcino; the pressings from these wines go to second- or third-passage wood and end up in Grammatica.

• Winery renewal from 2016: a second underground area built on 1.5 kilometers of micropiles.
• Vinification in specially made steel vats, with an in-house laboratory; assemblage and bottling room with non-vitrified concrete tanks; cross-vaulted barrel room.
• Brunello and Rosso di Montalcino use free-run wine only; pressings go into Grammatica.

Cerbaiona's production includes Brunello di Montalcino, Rosso di Montalcino and a small quantity of Grammatica, a Sangiovese IGT labelled Rosso Toscana IGT. Grammatica made its debut with the 2020 harvest; Diego Molinari had made a Cerbaiona Rosso VDT, a simple wine often blended from different vintages, which is now discontinued. The name Grammatica draws on an expression used by Giocondo Albertolli in his drawing manual Ornamenti Diversi (1782). In 2022 a second selection of Brunello and Rosso di Montalcino was launched under the Le Colline M.L. Fioretti label. The 2021 Cerbaiona Brunello di Montalcino was bottled in April 2024 at 14.13% alcohol, in a production of 9,484 bottles, 300 magnums and 20 jeroboams, and marks forty years of production of the label.

• Brunello di Montalcino: first vintage under the label 1981; the 2021 was bottled in April 2024.
• Rosso di Montalcino.
• Grammatica Rosso Toscana IGT: Sangiovese, first made from the 2020 harvest.
• Le Colline M.L. Fioretti: second selection of Brunello and Rosso di Montalcino, since 2022.

Daniele Cernilli named Cerbaiona 'Vino dell’anno' in his Guida Essenziale ai Vini d'Italia 2016, and Antonio Galloni awarded it 100 points, placing Cerbaiona among the three best Brunellos he had ever tasted.

• Named 'Vino dell’anno' by Daniele Cernilli in the Guida Essenziale ai Vini d'Italia 2016.
• Awarded 100 points by Antonio Galloni.

Writing in Wine Spectator in 2008 about the area east of Montalcino and south of Torrenieri, Richard Betts found 'a certain natural density to the Sangiovese fruit here' and added: 'One of our favorites is always Diego Molinari’s Cerbaiona.' Decanter's Kerin O'Keefe placed Diego Molinari, with Giulio Salvioni, further east of Montalcino's southeastern zone, as makers of 'port-like Brunellos.' Under the current ownership, the estate describes its 2021 Brunello as 'a wine that expresses the full ripeness of the grapes and polyphenols, with a fine, taut and balanced texture.'

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://cerbaiona.com/en/, https://cerbaiona.com/, https://cerbaiona.com/en/about-us/, https://cerbaiona.com/en/rebirth-vision/, https://cerbaiona.com/en/vineyard/, https://cerbaiona.com/en/winery/, https://cerbaiona.com/en/vino/brunello-montalcino/, https://cerbaiona.com/en/vino/grammatica-en/. Official body: Consorzio del vino Brunello di Montalcino, https://consorziobrunellodimontalcino.it/news/?lang=it&p=8397 (13 October 2015). Secondary sources: Decanter (Kerin O'Keefe, last updated 12 August 2015) and Wine Spectator (Richard Betts, 22 February 2008). Last verified 2026-10-19. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.