Italy · Montepulciano & Valdichiana

Societa Cooperativa Vecchia Cantina di Montepulciano Societa Agricola

A grower cooperative at Montepulciano in southeastern Tuscany, founded in 1937 by fourteen local producers, now counting roughly 400 members farming approximately 1,000 hectares. Its Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG is built from Prugnolo Gentile and aged in Slavonian-oak casks in two underground barrel cellars.

The producer

Vecchia Cantina di Montepulciano is a grower-owned cooperative at the heart of the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano appellation in southeastern Tuscany. Fourteen local producers founded it in 1937, choosing to pool their harvests rather than sell grapes in bulk. Three years later the cooperative put its name on its first bottling. Today roughly 400 member growers farm approximately 1,000 hectares spread across municipalities in Tuscany and Umbria, making it both the largest cooperative in its local area and, by its own account, the oldest in Tuscany.

The cooperative's principal wine is Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG, built from Prugnolo Gentile, the local name for Sangiovese, and aged in Slavonian-oak casks in two purpose-built underground cellars outside the hilltop town. The older cellar, a tunnel built in 1972, holds 160 casks; the modern 2,800-square-metre cellar completed in 2001 holds 250 larger casks. Both favour wide-grained Slavonian oak, which imparts less wood flavour than French oak and lets the grape's red-berry fruit and firm tannin carry through. In April 2026 the cooperative joined the Caviro group's shareholder membership through a declared partnership aimed at building distribution and sustainability infrastructure.

Known for

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG

Notable facts

The story

The First Bottling

In autumn 1937, fourteen farmers around Montepulciano sat down and agreed to stop selling their harvests as loose grapes. They would vinify together and sell as one: pooled resources, shared labour, a single cellar. It was a practical arrangement. Three years later, in 1940, the cooperative completed its first bottling and put its name on a label. That first labelled bottle was the proof the arrangement had worked. Vecchia Cantina has continued bottling under its own name ever since, and the cooperative that began as an agreement between fourteen neighbours now counts roughly 400 members farming a combined 1,000 hectares across southeastern Tuscany and into Umbria.

From the atlas

Societa Cooperativa Vecchia Cantina di Montepulciano Societa Agricola

At A Glance

The Producer

Vecchia Cantina di Montepulciano is a grower-owned cooperative at the heart of one of Tuscany's oldest named wine territories. It was founded in 1937 by fourteen local producers who chose to pool their harvests rather than sell grapes in bulk, and it made its first bottling under its own label three years later. Today it draws from roughly 400 member growers farming approximately 1,000 hectares spread across municipalities in both Tuscany and Umbria, making it the largest cooperative in its local area and, by its own account, the oldest in Tuscany.

The scale matters for the wines. Vecchia Cantina is a collective enterprise, not a family domaine with a single parcel vision. Its goal is affordable Vino Nobile di Montepulciano made from Prugnolo Gentile, the local name for Sangiovese, aged in Slavonian-oak casks in two purpose-built underground cellars outside the hilltop town. Many buyers encounter the Vino Nobile appellation for the first time through this cooperative's bottles.

Place

Montepulciano is a medieval hilltop town in the southeastern corner of Tuscany, roughly halfway between Siena and Orvieto. The Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG covers vineyards on slopes between roughly 250 and 600 metres above sea level, in a territory that benefits from a continental climate moderated by altitude. Winters are cold and summers are warm and dry, conditions that push Prugnolo Gentile toward firm tannin and concentrated red fruit while the elevation preserves acidity and gives wines the capacity to age.

The DOCG designation requires a minimum of two years of ageing before release, at least one of which must be in oak. That legal minimum shapes the bottle's character directly: Vino Nobile arrives with tannin already softened by wood contact, an initial spice layer from oak, and fruit that has had time to knit together. A Riserva version extends that ageing to three years. The appellation's label carries the word Nobile, a reference to the wine's long-established status among Tuscan reds, and the grape's local name, Prugnolo Gentile, means "gentle plum," which is a reasonable description of the fruit character in a typical vintage.

Soil And Site

The vineyards supplying Vecchia Cantina's cellars stretch across several municipalities including Montepulciano, Torrita di Siena, Pienza, Sinalunga, Cetona, Cortona, and Chiusi, as well as parts of Umbria. This breadth of sourcing across different aspects and altitudes within the appellation means the cooperative works with grapes from a wide range of expositions and soil types. Clay and sandy soils predominate across much of the appellation's hillside territory, with some galestro, the friable schist found across central Tuscany, appearing at higher elevations. Specific parcel-by-parcel soil data across the cooperative's 1,000 hectares is not published.

Story

In the late 1930s, farming around Montepulciano ran on individual family operations that sold their harvest as bulk grape or undifferentiated wine. Fourteen local producers changed that in 1937 by forming a cooperative, agreeing to vinify and sell together. The move gave small growers collective scale: a shared cellar, shared equipment, and eventually a shared label.

Physical growth followed each new wave of membership and production demand. A headquarters was completed in 1971 just outside Montepulciano's historic centre. Three years later a second vinification centre opened at Montepulciano Scalo to handle increased volumes, and that facility was renovated in 2007. Underground barrel cellars were built in two phases: a tunnel constructed in 1972 holding 160 Slavonian-oak casks, followed by a modern 2,800-square-metre underground cellar completed in 2001 and fitted with 250 larger casks of 35 or 85 hectolitres each.

The cooperative's most recent chapter is a 2026 alignment with Caviro, Italy's largest wine cooperative group, formalised as a shareholder partnership rather than a takeover. President Andrea Rossi described the arrangement as a way to build synergies and efficiency. The move extends the cooperative's distribution infrastructure and its sustainability ambitions, which had already produced Equalitas corporate-sustainability certification and published sustainability reports for 2021, 2022, and 2023.

Vineyards And Cellar

With 1,000 hectares spread across multiple municipalities and around 400 member growers, Vecchia Cantina manages its vineyards through individual member cultivation rather than a single unified farming programme. Grapes are brought into two vinification centres: the main site outside Montepulciano and the Montepulciano Scalo facility. The cooperative has invested in both bottling infrastructure and visitor reception as part of a recent round of winery improvements.

Oak ageing takes place in two underground cellars. The older 1972 tunnel holds 160 Slavonian-oak casks of varying capacity; Slavonian oak is wider-grained than French oak, which imparts less pronounced wood flavour and allows the Prugnolo Gentile fruit to remain more forward. The modern cellar, built in 2001, holds 250 casks at 35 or 85 hectolitres, sizes that reduce the ratio of oak surface to wine volume compared to smaller barrels, resulting in gentler, slower oxygenation and a lighter wood imprint on the finished wine.

Wines

Vecchia Cantina's range centres on Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG, the appellation's principal red. The Vino Nobile is built from Prugnolo Gentile and aged in the cooperative's Slavonian-oak casks for the DOCG minimum before bottling. It sits at the serious end of the cooperative's offer and carries the weight and ageing capacity associated with the appellation.

Poggio Stella is a second wine in the range. The 2017 vintage was reviewed at the 2022 IWSC and received a bronze result, noted for plum and bramble fruit with a herbal finish and oak ageing. Its character places it closer to an approachable everyday red than to the structured DOCG tier.

The official range includes additional brands and positioning tiers below the DOCG level, making the cooperative's wines accessible at several price points. These lower tiers draw from the same broad membership base but are released earlier and without the full oak ageing regime required of the Vino Nobile.

In The Glass

The Vino Nobile di Montepulciano opens with red-berry and jam aromas when young, the primary fruit character of Prugnolo Gentile from warm Tuscan hillsides. With bottle age, those initial fruit notes give way to spice, dried herbs, and earthy depth. On the palate, tannin and acidity work in balance: the tannin is firm and present, a structural quality typical of Sangiovese, while the acidity prevents the fruit from feeling heavy and contributes to the wine's capacity to age. Savouriness carries through from mid-palate to finish.

An independent blind review of the 2016 Vino Nobile assigned 87 points and described the wine as lean, herbal, and astringent in character, a profile consistent with a cooler vintage expression of Prugnolo Gentile where the grape's natural austerity is more pronounced. Poggio Stella, in its 2017 expression, was described at competition as plum and bramble with a herbal finish, a softer and more immediately accessible register than the DOCG wine.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG. It is the bottle that justifies the cooperative's existence: Prugnolo Gentile from 1,000 member hectares across the appellation's hillside territory, aged in large Slavonian-oak casks, and released at a price point that would be impossible for a small estate to match at the same appellation level. The wine is firm and savoury, with red-berry fruit shading toward dried herb and spice after a few years in bottle, and a tannic grip that benefits from food, particularly red meat or aged Tuscan cheeses. It does not chase softness or oak sweetness. It is a straightforward argument for the appellation's character, made by the collective rather than a single family.

Anecdote

In autumn 1937, fourteen farmers around Montepulciano sat down and agreed to stop selling their harvests as loose grapes. They would vinify together and sell as one. It was a practical arrangement, not a grand statement: pooled resources, shared labour, a single cellar. Three years later, in 1940, the cooperative completed its first bottling and put its name on a label. That first labelled bottle was the proof that the arrangement had worked. Vecchia Cantina has continued bottling under its own name ever since, and the cooperative that began as an agreement between fourteen neighbours now counts roughly 400 members farming a combined 1,000 hectares across southeastern Tuscany and into Umbria.

Final Word

Vecchia Cantina di Montepulciano occupies a specific and honest position in the Vino Nobile appellation: it is the collective through which most of the territory's growers sell their wine, and it makes the appellation accessible at prices that smaller estates cannot reach. Its underground cellars, Slavonian-oak casks, and DOCG-level Prugnolo Gentile are a reliable introduction to what Montepulciano grows and how the appellation ages. The 2026 Caviro partnership gives the cooperative a broader distribution platform and a larger sustainability framework. Buy the Vino Nobile when you want the appellation's character without the premium of a single-estate bottle.

Sources

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