Mastrojanni is one of the main wineries in Montalcino today belonging to the Friulian coffee entrepreneur Riccardo Illy. The name Mastrojanni is that of the founder, a Roman lawyer, Gabriele Mastrojanni, who in 1975 bought the two farms of San Pio and Loreto that make up the property. At that time Brunello was not yet an internationally successful wine like today and Montalcino was only a poor rural village.
The estate extends on the southwestern slope of the Montalcino hill, near Castelnuovo dell’Abate, an area that had not yet been planted with vines. It was the founder, Gabriele Mastrojanni, who planted the first vineyards in these lands and chose Sangiovese as the main grape variety. From the very beginning, the Mastrojanni family, residing in Rome, assigned Andrea Machetti to supervise the estate and production as director and Maurizio Castelli as an oenologist consultant. These two men have given continuity to the project of the Mastrojanni winery even after the transfer of ownership to Riccardo Illy in 2008. Thanks to the work of Andrea Machetti and Maurizio Castelli, Mastrojanni has become one of the reference wineries of Brunello di Montalcino, producing wines of absolute value.
Of the 108 hectares of property, all on the south-east side in Castelnuovo dell’Abate, the vineyards are only 39 hectares between 180 and 420 meters above sea level, alternating with woods, olive groves and other crops. The vineyards have slightly different soils and exposures: in some the soil contains clay and tuff with sandstone, in others limestone pebbles prevail. Castelnuovo dell’Abata is one of the driest and hottest areas of Montalcino, always windy.
The Sangiovese of this area tends to give wines very rich of flavor compounds and phenols, suitable for long aging. Mastrojanni’s Brunellos are structured and powerful wines, not lacking in elegance, capable of evolving for many years in the bottle. Today the Brunello di Montalcino labels produced by Mastrojanni are 3: two vineyard selections, or single Crus, which are produced only in the most favorable vintages and a classic Brunello di Montalcino, made with grapes from different plots of the estate. In addition to Brunello, the winery produces Rosso di Montalcino and other wines with grapes other than Sangiovese.