What he’s done with that Sangiovese has become Montalcino’s most captivating modern legend, a tale that is set in a magical kingdom of sorts….The Case Basse estate effectually constitutes an idyllic habitat, one which has been designed to operate in a state of continuous balance, honored through a complex yet wholly organic operation. It is here that the animal kingdom reflects its most perfect self, as every contributor is there for a reason. The wife of Soldera, Graziella, nurtures her own domain in this resplendent world—a rose garden featuring over 1,500 species.
As is to be expected, Soldera exercises a precise and meticulous regimen in the vineyard, privileging a painstaking “by hand” approach to several procedures. Brunellos issuing from this realm constitute their own category, being unrivaled by any other expression that bears the Montalcino designation.

Ironically, Soldera’s labeling methodology doesn’t reflect the meticulous precision defining his viticultural operations; in fact, it’s the only element of his world that’s rather undisciplined. Soldera drew upon Intistieti exclusively in his early years of Brunello production, as its soils were poorer than those of Case Basse, rendering it the more suited of the two to delivering wines of structure. As the estate’s eponymous cru was growing into its future role as a source of profound Brunellos, Soldera put it to use in a Vino da Tavola Rosso bottling that is effectually the equivalent of a present-day Rosso di Montalcino. However, it wasn’t the only one that was being used in the Vino da Tavola role: When a wine failed to merit Soldera’s exacting qualitative specifications for the Brunello di Montalcino designation, it was classified as Vino da Tavola Intistieti. The first of these was made in 1985 and while its early successors did indeed represent their source, Soldera changed things up—to great confusion—in the 1987 vintage, as the wine released under the Intistieti label was sourced from Case Basse. The rationale behind the somewhat misleading label? Nothing more profound than the fact that Soldera liked the Intistieti name, a personal preference that he chose to exercise again in both 1988 and 1991. But this somewhat irrational modus operandi doesn’t end there. In the 1990 vintage, Case Basse made its debut Brunello showing, while Intistieti served as the source of Soldera’s Riserva. In some years, though, the normale Brunello is wholly a Case Basse production, while in others, like 1996, it is a blend of the best from both crus. Also, in 1995, Soldera produced the first riserva from Casse Basse; in 2001, both crus delivered riservas.

A Soldera wine can be difficult to translate in words, being prone to dramatic changes in intervals of mere seconds. Perhaps Soldera captured it best when he asked Sergio Esposito, “Can’t you taste the Case Basse in my wines?” But that taste, as indicated above, is elicited and carefully transmitted through an organic methodology and precise viticultural and vinification techniques, including winter pruning, an exacting green harvest, hand cultivation of the vines, and a meticulous grape selection process. The rigorous regimen continues in the cellar, where a lengthy maceration averaging between 14 and 25 days transpires. Thereafter, the wine is aged sans temperature control in large Slavonian oak casks—presiding over a grottolike space (which enables uninhibited circulation of the air)—over the course of a five-year period (with the riservas receiving an additional year’s aging). No temperature control or yeasts are utilized, and the finished wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered in custom Bordeaux bottles that were expressly conceived to ensure a desirable rate of maturation.

For several years, many failed to realize a basic tenet of Soldera’s—“A great wine is long lived: it must improve, at least in the first twenty years, and give different sensations as time passes.” They wantonly cut it off upon release, finding it prohibitively austere. Not that Gianfranco Soldera cared at all, believing that there are no more than “50 really great wines in the world,” with his, of course, being one of them. In fact, he doesn’t want his wine to be drunk by the masses, crafting it with the intent of appealing only to the “right people.” The vineyard and the cellar are but two elements of the multifaceted world that is Case Basse. Soldera effectually manages a highly controlled yet paradoxically natural environment that operates several interrelated, yet distinct systems— viticultural think tank, animal sanctuary, and unparalleled rose garden. Academic dissertations have been written about the estate and several professors regularly monitor various operations, including analyses of the grapes (sensory and microbiological) and studies of the many species that have been introduced to the environment to create a utopic realm.

Rarity. It’s an absolute condition in Soldera’s world. Much like Josko Gravner, Soldera is operating far outside the mainstream. But it is in this space that wine is elevated, fashioned with a view to realizing a personal ideal through an intimate and highly conceptualized relationship with the natural world. He’s truly betwixt and between realms—
“Case Basse is a real Time Machine, a leap backwards to go forwards.”