Gianni Brunelli

Gianni Brunelli founded Osteria Le Logge, a restaurant in Siena, in 1977. In 1987 he returned to Montalcino and bought back Le Chiuse di Sotto, the property that had belonged to his father Dino; in Dino's memory, a small plot of vines he planted in 1947 is still conserved on the estate today. Le Chiuse di Sotto is a single 5-hectare property northeast of Montalcino, of which 2 hectares are planted to Sangiovese and the remaining 2.5 hectares are olive groves, from which the estate produces its own extra virgin olive oil. In the mid-1990s Gianni and Laura Brunelli bought Podernovone, a 4.5-hectare property on the southeastern slopes of Montalcino in the Sant'Antimo area, planted with Sangiovese and some Merlot; the first 2.2 hectares there were completed in May 1998 and the remaining 2.3 hectares that October. Podernovone is made up of four named vineyards: Olmo, Oliva, Quercia and Gelso.

• Gianni Brunelli founded Osteria Le Logge in Siena in 1977, before returning to Montalcino
• Le Chiuse di Sotto was bought back in 1987; it had belonged to Gianni's father Dino, whose 1947 vine plantings are still conserved
• Le Chiuse di Sotto: 5 hectares total, 2 hectares Sangiovese and 2.5 hectares olive groves
• Podernovone, bought in the mid-1990s, added 4.5 hectares of Sangiovese and Merlot in four named plots: Olmo, Oliva, Quercia and Gelso

Gianni Brunelli died in November 2008. Laura Brunelli, his wife, has since managed all technical and administrative aspects of the winery, working with her team of family and staff. The estate's own account describes their partnership before his death: Laura came to Siena from Sardinia to study biology, met Gianni in Piazza del Campo, and the two were together for the following thirty years, running Osteria Le Logge together alongside the winery. Since Gianni's death, Laura's stewardship has coincided with the estate's most celebrated critical results: the 2016 Brunello di Montalcino received a 100-point score from Wine Advocate, and the 2021 Brunello di Montalcino received 100 points from critic Kerin O'Keefe, ranking No. 5 on her Top 100 Wines of 2025 list. In 2023, the estate began a new US importing partnership with Sour Grapes Wine, a relationship the importer describes as growing out of a friendship with Laura dating to 2013. In May 2025, Gianni Brunelli was among the estates featured at Vinous Icons: Italy, a tasting event held in New York City.

• Gianni Brunelli died in November 2008; Laura Brunelli has run the estate's technical and administrative side since, with her team of family and staff
• 2016 Brunello di Montalcino (standard bottling): 100 points, Wine Advocate (critic Monica Larner)
• 2021 Brunello di Montalcino: 100 points from critic Kerin O'Keefe, ranked No. 5 on her Top 100 Wines of 2025 list
• New US importer Sour Grapes Wine, partnership formalized in 2023; estate featured at Vinous Icons: Italy in New York City, May 2025

The estate's 6.5 hectares of vines are divided into five plots across two sites with different exposures and soils. Le Chiuse di Sotto, north of Montalcino, sits at 250 meters with a north-west exposure; its soil is tuff with fair amounts of clay and slate, and rows run north-south for maximum cluster light. Vines there are trained with the traditional Montalcino spurred cordon method at a density of 4,500 vines per hectare, planted exclusively with Sangiovese. At Podernovone, in the Sant'Antimo area on the southeastern slopes, the four named plots vary in exposure, altitude and soil: Olmo (south exposure, 470-500 meters, galestro rock, slate, schist and crushed limestone, sand-rich and well-draining), Oliva (southwest exposure, 470-500 meters, galestro with some crushed limestone, schist and slate), Quercia (west exposure, about 480 meters, galestro and tuff with some schist and sand), and Gelso (northwest exposure, about 510 meters, galestro and sand with white clay). All viticulture is organic, with no herbicides or synthetic products; soil management between and under the rows is done by hand, and fertilization is applied to each vine individually according to its needs. The Brunello di Montalcino DOCG is described by the estate as a blend of a careful selection of its four crus.

• Le Chiuse di Sotto: 250 meters, north-west exposure, tuff/clay/slate soil, 4,500 vines/hectare, 100% Sangiovese, spurred cordon training
• Podernovone's four named plots: Olmo, Oliva, Quercia and Gelso, ranging 470-510 meters, all on galestro-based soils with varying slate, schist, limestone and sand
• All estate viticulture is organic; no herbicides or synthetic products; hand soil management and individualized vine fertilization
• Brunello di Montalcino DOCG is blended from a selection of the estate's four crus, per the estate's own description

All grapes come from the estate's own vineyards, are manually harvested with an on-site selection and a final visual inspection at the sorting table, and are kept to very low yields. Vinification takes place separately for each plot in stainless steel tanks; the estate describes no fixed protocol beyond maintaining cleanliness and a stable fermentation temperature of 26-27 degrees Celsius. Extraction is prolonged but delicate. After malolactic fermentation, wines from each plot age separately in the estate's oak cask cellar in vessels of Slavonian oak ranging from 5 to 30 hectoliters; the slow, prolonged aging allows the wine to clarify naturally, requiring only light filtration before bottling. Sangiovese from both sites goes into the Brunello di Montalcino and Rosso di Montalcino; the small plot of Merlot planted at Podernovone is reserved for Amor Costante, an IGT blend the estate describes as combining the softness of Merlot with the structure of Sangiovese.

• All fruit is estate-grown, hand-harvested, and sorted on-site before a final visual inspection at the sorting table
• Vinification is done plot by plot in stainless steel tanks, with fermentation held at 26-27 degrees Celsius
• Aging is in Slavonian oak casks of 5 to 30 hectoliters; only light filtration is used before bottling
• Brunello di Montalcino and Rosso di Montalcino are Sangiovese; Amor Costante IGT blends Sangiovese with the estate's small Podernovone Merlot plot

In 2015, after what the estate describes as considerable thought and work, Laura Brunelli completed and opened a new winery at Podernovone, on the southeastern slopes of Montalcino among the property's 4.5 hectares of vines. The building was designed to be minimal and practical, aiming for low energy and environmental impact and using solar energy and gravity in place of mechanical pumping. Construction used stone and the traditional Etruscan cocciopesto method, which the estate says allows the building to breathe; a corridor surrounding the structure is designed to provide thermal isolation, keeping a stable temperature across all four seasons. The estate describes Podernovone as fully sustainable, combining technology with tradition.

• New Podernovone winery inaugurated in 2015 by Laura Brunelli
• Designed for low energy and environmental impact; uses solar energy and gravity flow rather than pumping
• Built in stone using the traditional Etruscan cocciopesto method
• A surrounding corridor provides thermal isolation, keeping a stable cellar temperature year-round

At 6.5 hectares across two contrasting Montalcino vineyard sites, Gianni Brunelli represents a small, family-run corner of Brunello production that has drawn some of the appellation's highest recent critical scores: a 100-point Wine Advocate rating for the 2016 vintage and a 100-point score and No. 5 Top 100 ranking from Kerin O'Keefe for the 2021 vintage. The Wine Society named the estate's 2023 Rosso di Montalcino 'one of the titans' of its 2025 Wine Champions Italian tasting, calling it 'so pure, with such a sense of place' and praising its 'real elegance, fine tannins and youthful vibrancy.' Laura Brunelli's stewardship since her husband Gianni's death in November 2008 has kept the estate's plot-by-plot, organic, Slavonian-oak approach intact while building its international standing, including a 2023 US importing partnership with Sour Grapes Wine and a place among the featured estates at Vinous Icons: Italy in New York in May 2025.

• 2016 standard Brunello di Montalcino: 100 points, Wine Advocate (Monica Larner)
• 2021 Brunello di Montalcino: 100 points, ranked No. 5 in Kerin O'Keefe's Top 100 Wines of 2025
• 2023 Rosso di Montalcino: named 'one of the titans' of The Wine Society's 2025 Wine Champions Italian tasting
• Laura Brunelli has run the estate since Gianni's death in November 2008, maintaining its organic, plot-by-plot, Slavonian oak house style

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://www.giannibrunelli.it/en/gianni-brunelli/, https://www.giannibrunelli.it/en/prodotti/brunello-di-montalcino-docg/, https://www.giannibrunelli.it/en/prodotti/rosso-di-montalcino-doc/, https://www.giannibrunelli.it/en/prodotti/amor-costante-igt/, https://www.giannibrunelli.it/en/vineyard/. Secondary sources: Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino (appellation body), https://www.consorziobrunellodimontalcino.it/en/1458/gianni-brunelli-le-chiuse-di-sotto; Osteria Le Logge (the Brunelli family's own restaurant site), http://osterialelogge.it/en/osteria-le-logge; Vinfolio editorial quoting Wine Advocate critic Monica Larner, https://www.vinfolio.com/editorial/2016-Brunello-what-the-critics-are-saying; Sour Grapes Wine (US importer), http://www.sourgrapeswine.com/brunelli-1; WineNews.it coverage of Kerin O'Keefe's Top 100 Wines of 2025, https://winenews.it/en/la-gerla-monteraponi-and-cavallotto-the-podium-of-the-top-100-of-italian-wines-by-kerin-okeefe_578961/; Vinous Icons: Italy 2025 event page, https://vinous.com/events/vinous-icons-italy-2025-new-york-city; The Wine Society product page, https://www.thewinesociety.com/product/rosso-di-montalcino-gianni-brunelli-2023-en.aspx; Skurnik Wines & Spirits producer profile, https://www.skurnik.com/producer/gianni-brunelli/; The Wine Independent, https://thewineindependent.com/articles/gianni-brunelli-le-chiuse-di-sotto-2010-2020/. Last verified 2026-09-14. Where sources conflict (total vineyard hectares; identity of the relative who assists Laura Brunelli), the producer's own site governs where it speaks, and unresolved conflicts between two non-producer sources are omitted from the article; see conflicts.json.