The Montepò castle is a powerful and elegant fortified structure dating back to 1100 that rises in the countryside north of Scansano, surrounded by woods, olive trees and small hills in the Tuscan Maremma. The ancient manor, since the Middle Ages, has been the impregnable bulwark to defend the boundaries of the fiefdom, a mission that still pursues today by protecting the 550 hectares of the estate, of which 50 are vineyards, where Jacopo Biondi Santi found the ideal conditions because the vine-terroir interaction crowned his ambitious wine enhancement project.
Castello di Montepò History
The fortified structure was built around the year 1000 near an ancient parish church, but was almost entirely rebuilt in the 14th century when it was controlled by the lords of Cotone.
Towards the end of the fourteenth century, the castle passed under the control of Siena who sold it over the next century to the Sergardi family.
In the Renaissance period, the new owners transformed the structure into a fortified farm and in the following centuries, some renovations were made which led to extensions.
Today the castle of Montepò presents itself as a rare example of a Sienese fortified villa from the Renaissance period, thanks to the transformation works carried out between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
The complex, with a rectangular plan, is arranged with the buildings around an internal courtyard and is flanked by four corner towers which in the past performed sighting functions. The wall structures are made of stone, with some brick coverings on the facades that open onto the internal courtyard.
The castle, currently owned by the Biondi Santi, is an integral part of a renowned farm specializing in the production of excellent wines; previously, it had been the inspiration for British writer Graham Greene. The roots of this brilliant adventure lie in the 19th century, when Ferruccio Biondi Santi planted the first Montalcino vineyard with vines of a selected Sangiovese clone, called Sangiovese Grosso or Brunello: it was the first step towards a new way of making wine that would soon enter in the history of Italian wine. Moved by the same curiosity and spirit of innovation, his son Tancredi was one of the first promoters of the creation of the disciplinary of the relative DOCG. His Franco, in the long 43 years of running the company, worked hard to raise the Biondi Santi brand to a reference point in the world as an excellence of Italian wine craftsmanship. An extraordinary oenological heritage, the result of over a century and a half of history and collected by Franco's son Jacopo, who in the wake of the enterprising spirit of his ancestors knew how to give life to new traditions with contemporary style wines.
To carry out his courageous and modern vision, Jacopo Biondi Santi chose the Castle of Montepò, in the heart of the Tuscan Maremma where with the same resolve of the medieval stronghold remained unchallenged for centuries, Jacopo, alongside his children, cultivates Sangiovese Grosso BBS 11, exclusive heritage of the family, together with international varieties with which it creates labels that express the vigorous individuality of a man determined to build the future of his family making it even more brilliant than in the past.