Romito IGT Toscana Castello Romitorio 2018

Romito Castello Romitorio is a majestic wine made from 100% Sangiovese and aged in oak barrels for 14 months. The result is a beautifully seductive wine with dark berry fruit flavours of plums, blackberries and hints of crushed raspberries. It is a complex wine which is both elegant and effortless to drink with a lovely round structure and superb texture.

Romito is not merely a wine, but also a concept and a way of thinking and being. It was first created in 1987 with the intention to make a great Sangiovese wine in Montalcino. It has been bottled under various appellations, first as a table wine, then a Sant’Antimo Rosso Doc, and finally as an IGT Toscana Rosso. The label, which was drawn by Sandro Chia and was Castello Romitorio’s first, depicts a warrior standing in front of the castle holding a lance and defending the territory.

Castello Romitorio was a half renovated abandoned wreck when artist Sandro Chia purchased it in 1984. What was left of the building had been abandoned after WW2 and used only by shepherds until Baron Giorgio Franchetti, a historic building restorer, purchased it in the 1970s. He abandoned his plan (I didn’t say he was a successful building restorer) and sold the property to Sandro who completed the work and brought the building back to life as his home and art studio. The building had been built originally in the 12th century as an imposing hilltop fortress to guard the town of Montalcino. In the late 1980’s Sandro set about restoring the land around the castle back to its former glory with an overhaul of the vineyards. New cellars were constructed in 2005 and Filippo, Sandro’s son became an integral part of the team. The wines have become internationally recognised as elegant expressions of Sangiovese that flirt between the modern and classic style.