One of the historic top producers and cult producer of Brunello di Montalcino. Diego Molinari, former captain of Alitalia and the one who flew the first Alitalia Boeing 747. The "Commander", as he was also called, started Cerbaiona in the mid-seventies when he got off the plane and settled down with his beautiful wife Nora in this very small place in the eastern part of Montalcino. Cerbaiona is at the end of the dirt road that leads past La Fornace and later La Cerbaiola, where Giulio Salvioni has his fields. The production has always been ultra traditional. Fermentation in old cement tanks and aging in large Slavonian oak barrels.
The wines could not be found finer in Montalcino, and the wines have a legendary shelf life. Brunello di Montalcino 2010 from Cerbaiona was the first and so far only Brunello di Montalcino ever to receive 100 points on release from Antonio Galloni. This year, when Rosso di Montalcino is produced, the wine set the standard for the wine type.
In December 2015, Nora and Diego sold Cerbaiona and the last wine, where grapes and vinification are managed by Molinari, is thus vintage 2015.
The captain, Diego Molinari, sadly left us on April 2, 2019. He was 87 years old and will be missed by everyone in Montalcino. Nora, the beautiful viv, left us on 5 November 2020 and the adventure of the two of them and Cerbaiona ended definitively.
The new owners are extremely competent and skilled people. Matthew Fioretti is responsible for the operation of Cerbaiona. He is not a fan of Molinari's style, and all the vineyards are uprooted and replanted. All casks have been changed in the cellar, and fermentation is now carried out on steel.
The new wines are thus from completely new vines and from a cellar with a completely different character.
