About Canalicchio di Sopra

Located in Montalcino, Tuscany, Canalicchio di Sopra has been making one of Italy’s finest and rarest red wines, Brunello, for three generations. Their wines display an exquisite combination of power and elegance in their expression of the Sangiovese grape.

The northern section of Montalcino where Canalicchio di Sopra is located has a cooler climate and higher altitude than its southern counterpart. The cool breezes and limited Mediterranean influences lend Canalicchio di Sopra wines a superb ripeness and structure not found in other areas of Montalcino. The winery’s Brunello and Brunello Riserva have time and again been lauded for their richness, full body, and delicate balance; and they consistently receive excellent reviews and high scores from top wine critics.

“Readers who have not tasted these wines owe it to themselves to do so. Canalicchio di Sopra is without question one of the most exciting estates in Montalcino today.” — Antonio Galloni

One of Brunello’s earliest pioneers, Primo Pacenti founded Canalicchio di Sopra in 1962 and helped found the Consorzio of Brunello di Montalcino winemakers in 1967. He believed in the quality and potential of the Sangiovese grape during a difficult, unsure time in the area’s history — the dismantling of the sharecropping system in Italy. A peasant farmer, he held little security to back his risky investment of buying land, but was determined not to be uprooted like so many others. His courage, fortitude and hard work yielded the reward of some of the finest wines to ever come from Tuscany’s hills. “I never dreamed that the tiny parcel of land I bought on the hill of Montalcino would return me riches I could never imagine.”

Pacenti was followed by his son-in-law, Pier Luigi Ripaccioli; and his grandchildren Simonetta, Marco, and Francesco entered the family business in 2001. The estate, once the rustic farmstead of a hopeful farmer, now also boasts a beautiful wine relais (“inn”) in Montalcino, where guests can relax and enjoy the Tuscan lifestyle among vineyards and olives groves. While elegant and expansive, it retains a rustic countryside charm — a subtle balance of contrasts also evident in the estate’s excellent wines.