Le Ragnaie

Le Ragnaie takes its name from the estate's locale, named after the nets that local hunters once used to trap birds. The estate lies at Località Le Ragnaie in the municipality of Montalcino, in the province of Siena, and is owned by Riccardo Campinoti. It climbs to 621 metres (2,037 feet) above the village of Montalcino. Brunello di Montalcino was at one time legally limited to vineyards below 600 metres, which excluded the highest part of Le Ragnaie; the Brunello di Montalcino governing body scrapped the vineyard altitude limit in 2015. In his first couple of vintages at Le Ragnaie, Campinoti made what he calls "more technical wine," with intensive extraction and Bordeaux barriques for ageing, although he has always fermented with indigenous yeasts. For his third vintage, 2005, he hired Siena-based agronomist and enologist Maurizio Castelli; together they moved to longer maceration times and only gentle pump-overs, and traditional larger oak casks replaced the barriques. Campinoti bought Fornace, an old vineyard in Castelnuovo dell'Abate, in 2005 and a Montosoli vineyard in 2014. By December 2021 the estate's vines had grown from an initial 10 acres to 50 acres.

• Name: from the nets that local hunters once used to trap birds.
• Owner: Riccardo Campinoti.
• 2005: Maurizio Castelli hired as agronomist and enologist; the Fornace vineyard in Castelnuovo dell'Abate bought.
• 2014: a Montosoli vineyard purchased.
• 2015: the 600-metre altitude limit for Brunello di Montalcino vineyards scrapped.

Riccardo Campinoti owns Le Ragnaie, and the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino lists the estate under his name. He was chosen to run the estate; he is a business school graduate and a largely self-taught producer who developed an obsessive interest in great wines. After travelling to Piedmont and Burgundy he concluded that the wines he liked were made with a lot of attention in the vineyards and with simple, traditional vinifications. Maurizio Castelli, a Siena-based agronomist and enologist, was hired for the 2005 vintage; Campinoti credits him with teaching "respect for the terroir and to not try to force things."

• Riccardo Campinoti: owner; chosen to run the estate.
• Maurizio Castelli: Siena-based agronomist and enologist, hired for the 2005 vintage.

The vineyards are planted exclusively with Sangiovese in three different micro-areas of Montalcino. The named vineyard sites are Fornace and Loreto, Cava Nuova and Cava Vecchia, Casanovina Montosoli, Ragnaie, Cantina and Petroso. The Ragnaie vineyard is the highest, in the central part of the hill, with vines from five to forty years old. The Vigna Vecchia (V.V.) Brunello comes from a vineyard around the winery that was half a century old in 2021. Petroso lies at 450 metres, nearly touching Montalcino village; Casanovina Montosoli lies north of the village at 300 metres; and Fornace, an old, eastern-exposed vineyard at 400 metres, lies in Castelnuovo dell'Abate, in the warmer southeastern part of the Brunello appellation. As of December 2021 each single-vineyard Brunello came from a parcel of no more than 2.5 acres. Farming follows the guidelines for Organic Agriculture: the only chemical products used are Bordeaux mixture and powdered mine sulphur, within organic limits, and the only fertilizer is an autumn green manure of legumes, clover and other herbs. Grass cover prevents surface erosion and promotes the absorption of water in the soil.

• Ragnaie: the highest vineyard, in the central part of the hill; vines five to forty years old.
• Petroso: 450 metres, nearly touching Montalcino village.
• Casanovina Montosoli: north of the village at 300 metres.
• Fornace: Castelnuovo dell'Abate, eastern exposure, 400 metres; bought 2005.
• Inputs: Bordeaux mixture and powdered mine sulphur only; an autumn green manure in place of fertilizers.

The cellar is at the Ragnaie headquarters. After the harvest, the grapes are selected on a vibrating sorting table. Musts are fermented and macerated in concrete vats with manual pumping over for 25 to 90 days; after pressing, the wines rest in large Slavonian oak barrels, for 12 months for the IGT Troncone, 24 months for the Rosso di Montalcino and 36 months for the Brunello. After bottling, the wine rests in an environment with controlled temperature and humidity until release. For the 2018 Brunello di Montalcino and the 2018 Ragnaie Vigna Vecchia, Casanovina Montosoli and Passo del Lume Spento, fermentation used no selected yeasts at a maximum of 31°C, maceration lasted 35 days, and the wines went through malolactic fermentation and spent 36 months in Slavonian oak vats of 25 to 37 hl, with no clarification, before being filtered.

• Concrete vats with manual pumping over; macerations of 25 to 90 days.
• Large Slavonian oak: 12 months for Troncone, 24 months for Rosso di Montalcino, 36 months for Brunello.
• 2018 Brunello di Montalcino: no selected yeasts, 35-day maceration, no clarification, filtered.

The Brunello di Montalcino DOCG wines are Ragnaie Vigna Vecchia, Casanovina Montosoli, Passo del Lume Spento, Fornace and Petroso, alongside a Brunello di Montalcino. The 2018 Brunello di Montalcino came from the Ragnaie, Petroso, Loreto, Fornace and Cava vineyards, with 27,571 bottles of 0.75 litres. The Rosso di Montalcino DOC wines are Le Ragnaie and a Rosso di Montalcino; the 2020 Rosso di Montalcino came from Castelnuovo and Le Ragnaie and spent 24 months in Slavonian oak. The Toscana IGT wines are the reds Troncone and Miscelone, the whites Civitella and a Bianco, and a Rosato. Troncone 2021 came from the Le Ragnaie Lago & Fonte vineyard and aged 12 months in Slavonian oak vats of 25 to 100 hl.

• Ragnaie Vigna Vecchia 2018: 100% Sangiovese, 45 quintals per hectare, 3,761 bottles of 0.75 litres.
• Casanovina Montosoli 2018: 55 quintals per hectare, 6,024 bottles of 0.75 litres.
• Passo del Lume Spento 2018: from the Le Ragnaie Vigna del Lume Spento vineyard, 3,822 bottles of 0.75 litres.
• Brunello di Montalcino 2018: Ragnaie, Petroso, Loreto, Fornace and Cava vineyards; 27,571 bottles of 0.75 litres.

In Bruce Sanderson's Brunello di Montalcino tasting report for the June 30, 2020 issue of Wine Spectator, the 2015 Casanovina Montosoli scored 97 points, the 2015 Fornace and the 2015 Ragnaie V.V. 96 points each, and the 2015 Brunello di Montalcino 93 points. In December 2021 Wine Spectator rated the 2016 Le Ragnaie Brunello di Montalcino at 96 points and all four 2016 single-vineyard bottlings at 96 to 98 points, and counted 29 Le Ragnaie Brunellos scoring 90 points or more in its blind tastings in the 19 years since the first vintage. Decanter's Montalcino travel guide, last updated in August 2018, credited the estate's old vines and ventilated location with "one of the sagest Brunello expressions of the moment."

The estate's farmhouse has 3 double bedrooms and 10 apartments; it is about 5 km from Montalcino and is not served by public transport. Winery visits are by reservation, for groups of up to 20, in Italian, English and Spanish.

In December 2021 Campinoti tied the style to altitude: "at 600 meters here, you can only make wines with more elegance and freshness than power." The estate presents its three micro-areas as a way to make wines "that are different from each other and bear witness to their territory." Writing in Wine Spectator, Robert Camuto called the V.V. the estate's "freshest, cool-climate Brunello" and placed Fornace at "the relatively rich end of his spectrum, where muscularity meets finesse," where, in Campinoti's words, the more intense sun "makes wine rounder, but at this altitude, you can still work in elegance."

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://leragnaie.com/en/, https://leragnaie.com/en/vineyards/, https://leragnaie.com/en/the-cellar/, https://leragnaie.com/en/our-wines/, https://leragnaie.com/en/rooms-and-apartments/, and the estate's 2018 to 2021 technical sheets (PDF): https://leragnaie.com/media/2023/10/Brunello-di-Montalcino-2018-Ragnaie-VV-1.pdf, https://leragnaie.com/media/2023/10/Brunello-di-Montalcino-2018-Casanova-Montosoli-1.pdf, https://leragnaie.com/media/2023/10/Brunello-di-Montalcino-2018-Passo-del-Lume-Spento-1.pdf, https://leragnaie.com/media/2023/10/Brunello-di-Montalcino-2018-1.pdf, https://leragnaie.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Rosso-di-Montalcino-2020-Le-Ragnaie-1.pdf, https://leragnaie.com/media/2023/10/Rosso-di-Motalcino-2020-1.pdf, https://leragnaie.com/media/2023/10/Toscana-Rosso-2021-Troncone-1.pdf. Official body: Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino producer page, https://www.consorziobrunellodimontalcino.it/en/1499/le-ragnaie. Secondary sources: Wine Spectator (Robert Camuto, Dec 28, 2021; Alphabetical Guide to Brunello di Montalcino, Jun 30, 2020 issue) and Decanter (Montalcino wine tour, last updated 2 August 2018). Last verified 2026-10-14. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.