Stella di Campalto’s estate, originally known as Podere San Giuseppe, was founded in 1910. It fell into abandonment during WWII and remained in a state of near ruin for many years. Then, in 1992, her family purchased the dilapidated estate and began revitalizing the property. The estate comprises approximately thirteen and a half hectares, with five and a half currently committed under vine. The head of the family winery is the lovely Stella di Campalto, who has overseen the winemaking and viticulture since 1992. She has practiced certified organic farming here since 1996 and in 2002 began practicing biodynamic farming – becoming certified in 2005. The estate lies at the southeast corner of the Montalcino zone, outside of Castelnuovo dell’Abate.

The heart and soul of the estate is its lovely clutch of top Brunello vineyards, which include the vineyards that are exposed to the south of Leccio, Curva, Sasso, and Bosco, as well as vineyards with varying exposures: San Giuseppe (south-southwest), Tondino (west), Quercia (southeast), and Ulivo (south-southwest). Click here for a map of her vineyards and here, additionally, for a soil map of her vineyards.

The vineyards are lovingly nurtured to produce the finest most natural fruit possible, and the cellar regimen at Stella di Campalto is designed to treat the wines as gently as possible to retain the individual vintage characteristics of the wines. In this regard, none of the modern cellar parlor tricks such as cultured yeasts or extraction enzymes are used during the vinification. Also, there is no pumping of the wines in the cellars, as everything is handled by gravity in the three stories of cold cellars under the property, with the wines aged in a combination of barriques and larger botti for anywhere from eighteen to twenty-two months before bottling. The bottling is all done by hand, and the wines are aged for additional time in the bottle before release. Stella feels her wines often need more time in the bottle before showing optimally. She is now releasing her wines according to when she feels the wines are ready - which is normally a year or more after the typical release date for other wineries.

All of Stella’s vineyards (except the small slice of Vigna All’ulivo) are classified for Brunello production, making the beautiful Stella di Campalto Rosso di Montalcino one of the finest values in all of Tuscany. Her Brunello, in its own right, has quickly risen to become a benchmark for the region.