Tenuta Le Macioche spotlight
The market on this bottle
Wine-Searcher tracks this 2018 Famiglia Cotarella Le Macioche Brunello di Montalcino DOCG, Italy across the open market. Their published U.S. low is $71.31 and the average is $93.76. Our slash is $71.00.
2018 Famiglia Cotarella Le Macioche Brunello di Montalcino DOCG, Italy
The Cotarella family's tiny 450-meter Le Macioche Brunello, galestro and wild herbs, a fragrant 2018 you can open at seventy-five dollars.
The 2018 Le Macioche is 100 percent Sangiovese Grosso from galestro soils at 450 meters: dried cherry, juniper, sandalwood, and a sapid close, now $71.
A small Montalcino farm with Cotarella hands on the tiller
Le Macioche is 3.5 hectares of galestro above Sant'Antimo, not a regional blend wearing a famous DOCG. Renzo and Riccardo Cotarella's family bought the farm in 2017. Pier Paolo Chiasso makes the wine. The 2018 is the fragrant, high-altitude vintage: cranberry, dried rose, sandalwood, then tannin that still wants a roast.
The house
Dominga, Marta, and Enrica Cotarella run the family estates. Le Macioche is their Montalcino farm, named for the strawberry-tree roots in the woods around the vines.
The wine
100% Sangiovese Grosso. Four 1980s plots near Sant'Antimo. 14% ABV. Built for fragrance and grip, not gloss.
The scores
Wine Enthusiast 95. Wine Advocate 93+. Decanter 92. Wine-Searcher aggregate 92.
The drinker
Dried cherry and juniper first. Decant 90 minutes. Serve near 62 F. Wild boar ragu or bistecca.
Dried cherry, wild herbs, and tannin that asks for food
The winery sheet writes withered wild plum, dehydrated cherry, juniper underwood, dried flowers, and white musk. Decanter found sandalwood and mint over cranberry. The tannins are still working. That is Brunello doing its job.
A fragrant, midweight Brunello year. Day-to-night swing at 450 meters kept the herbal lift. The 2018 wants air now and will take leather, tea, and dried rose over the next decade.
Dried cherry, cranberry, withered wild plum, fig, dried rose, juniper, mint.
Midweight, 14% ABV, bright acidity, firm Sangiovese tannin that still needs food.
Long, sapid, mineral. Decant 90 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F.
Galestro, height, then Sangiovese Grosso
On the Famiglia Cotarella sheet, Le Macioche is 3.5 hectares of galestro at 450 meters. That altitude is why the 2018 smells of mint and sandalwood instead of only ripe cherry. Pier Paolo Chiasso keeps the wine midweight so the site stays in the glass after the tannin settles.
Four plots planted in the 1980s sit southeast of the town, near Sant'Antimo. About 12,500 bottles. Serve 16 to 18 C.
Open now with a long decant, or wait for tobacco, dried flowers, and a quieter savory close.
A tiny farm, a famous Italian wine family
Le Macioche began as a 1980s Montalcino farmhouse. The Cotarella family took it in 2017 so the next generation could put their name on one of Tuscany's strictest reds.
The name comes from macioca, the strawberry-tree root in the woods around the vines. Matilde Zecca and Achille Mazzocchi started the farm in 1985.
Renzo and Riccardo Cotarella helped shape modern Italian oenology. Their daughters Dominga, Marta, and Enrica now run the house. Pier Paolo Chiasso, Dominga's husband, is the winemaker.
This is not a Cotarella experiment in volume. It is a small galestro farm with Brunello patience already in the bottle.
Give it protein, herbs, olive oil, and time
This is Brunello for rustic Tuscan cooking: browned edges, rosemary, sage, tomato, mushrooms, and enough richness to meet the tannin.
Two plates. One wild boar pappardelle. One thick Florentine steak. Both can take 2018 Sangiovese tannin.
Decant 90 minutes now. Serve 60 to 64 F in a large red Burgundy or Brunello stem. After 2029, 30 to 45 minutes of air is enough.
Pappardelle al Cinghiale
Wild boar ragu mirrors the wine's leather, herb, and dark-cherry side while the pasta softens the tannins.
Why it works: Slow-braised meat and tomato sweetness meet Brunello acidity. Rosemary and bay echo the savory herbal register.
View Recipe for pappardelle al cinghiale (opens in a new tab)
Bistecca alla Fiorentina
A thick grilled steak is the cleanest way to make this bottle feel inevitable.
Why it works: Char and beef fat tame the tannin. Salt and olive oil pull cherry, cigar box, and mineral notes forward.
View Recipe for bistecca alla Fiorentina (opens in a new tab)Put this high-altitude Brunello in the cart
3.5 hectares. Wine Enthusiast 95. Galestro at 450 meters. Seventy-five dollars.
Put it in the cart. This is the Cotarella Brunello for a roast, a long Sunday, and a cellar slot that still has work to do.
