From the atlas
Tenuta Trerose
At A Glance
Producer: Tenuta Trerose Type: Wine estate Appellation: Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG Village: Valiano di Montepulciano Region: Tuscany, Italy Principal Grape: Sangiovese (Prugnolo Gentile biotype) Vineyards: 103 hectares across five named hills Founded: 1982 Enologist: Andrea Lonardi
The Producer
Tenuta Trerose sits at the far southeastern edge of the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG, where Tuscany runs out and Umbria begins. Lake Trasimeno is visible from the higher vineyard hills. Most buyers picture Montepulciano as a central Tuscan hilltop; Trerose occupies a quieter, more marginal corner of the appellation, and that position shapes what grows in the ground and what ends up in the glass.
The estate covers 200 hectares in total, with 103 hectares planted to vine. Its vineyards are distributed across five named hills: I Palazzi, Belvedere, Lodola, Poggetto and Santa Caterina. Almost the entire planting is Sangiovese in the local Prugnolo Gentile biotype, a form of Sangiovese historically associated with this corner of Tuscany that ripens to a particular density of fruit and firmness of tannin. Founded in 1982 and belonging to the Angelini Wines and Estates group, the estate is run today with enologist Andrea Lonardi overseeing the cellar.
The most legible commitment on the farming side is the move to organic viticulture, completed in 2021, nearly four decades after the estate's founding. Integrated pest management had been part of the approach before that date; the 2021 harvest marked the point at which it became fully certified organic. The stated cellar philosophy is minimalist: work in the vineyard is meant to carry the wine, not the other way around.
Place
Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is a DOCG centred on the town of Montepulciano in the province of Siena, at altitudes between roughly 250 and 600 metres on the ridges south of the Chiana Valley. Trerose's vineyards at Valiano di Montepulciano occupy the southeastern fringe of this zone, where the elevation is lower and the Umbrian border sits close enough that the landscape changes character within a few kilometres. The proximity to Lake Trasimeno introduces moisture from the east, which moderates the growing season and contributes to the freshness in the wines.
The five vineyard hills are not a single continuous slope. Each carries its own elevation, aspect and soil mix, which is why the estate distinguishes them by name and draws its top wines from individual hills rather than blending across the property. I Palazzi faces southwest on sandstone and salty clay. Santa Caterina, source of the estate's most fruit-forward expression, sits on ground with different drainage and a more contained ripening window.
Soil And Site
The soils across the five hills combine sandstone, clay rich in salt, and silt in varying proportions. The sandstone component promotes drainage and keeps vine roots active through the growing season. The clay retains moisture and minerals. The salt content in the clay is a local characteristic of this southeastern corner of the DOCG.
I Palazzi, source of the Simposio riserva, has southwestern exposure on sandstone and salty clay soils. That aspect accumulates heat through the afternoon and produces a denser, more tannic expression of Prugnolo Gentile. Santa Caterina hill produces a wine with more fruit lift and a plush palate, suggesting slightly cooler conditions or better-drained ground than I Palazzi.
Story
The land at Valiano di Montepulciano has been farmed continuously for a very long time. The estate's central villa dates from 1521. Before that, Roman-era evidence places a farm on the same ground: a stone milestone that once stood beside the road running through this part of Tuscany still stands in the park in front of the villa.
The modern estate was formally established in 1982. What followed was four decades of incremental change rather than a single dramatic pivot. Integrated pest management came first, as a way of reducing chemical input while maintaining yield consistency across the five hills. The fully organic conversion that completed in 2021 was the end of a long arc, not its beginning. Forty years of farming the same ground had clarified what the hills could reliably give; the cellar philosophy stayed minimalist throughout, meaning Slavonian oak and controlled fermentation rather than new wood or extended extraction.
The two top wines, Santa Caterina and Simposio, reflect the estate's understanding of its own hills. Both use 100% Prugnolo Gentile rather than the Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon that enter the estate Vino Nobile blend. Each comes from one hill, aged in differently sized oak vessels, and held in bottle for a period that extends well beyond DOCG minimum requirements.
Vineyards And Cellar
All 103 hectares are farmed organically since 2021, with integrated pest management as the preceding practice. Almost the entire planting is Prugnolo Gentile, the local Sangiovese biotype. Vine work across the five hills follows integrated pest management principles adapted to each site's drainage, aspect and soil character.
In the cellar, the approach diverges by wine tier. The estate Vino Nobile di Montepulciano ferments in temperature-controlled steel tanks over 18 days at 30 degrees Celsius, producing ripe extraction without over-working the grape. It then ages 18 months in Slavonian oak barrels followed by a minimum of four months in bottle. The Slavonian oak, typically in large format, adds a light oxidative note without dominating the Prugnolo fruit.
Santa Caterina moves into 60 to 70 hectoliter barrels for 18 months, then goes into bottle for six years before release. That total élevage of seven and a half years pulls the fruit into closer integration with the oak and allows the tannins to soften without losing the wine's density.
Simposio is aged in smaller 30 to 40 hectoliter barrels for 18 months, then approximately 18 months in bottle. The smaller vessel and southwestern-exposure fruit from I Palazzi combine to produce a tighter, more tannic result than Santa Caterina, with more aromatic complexity from the extended barrel contact.
Wines
The range is built around Prugnolo Gentile at every level and runs from entry Rosso di Montepulciano through three tiers of Vino Nobile, a rosé and a Vin Santo.
Rosso di Montepulciano DOC forms the entry tier, including the named Salterio. These are earlier-drinking wines designed to show Prugnolo in its less tannic register.
The estate Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG blends 90 percent Prugnolo Gentile with five percent Merlot and five percent Cabernet Sauvignon. The Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon round the edges of the Prugnolo tannin and push the palate toward a slightly more accessible mid-weight profile. The fruit is dark: Marasca cherry, blackberry and blueberry with a mineral finish of pencil lead, tobacco and liquorice.
Pieve Valiano is a separate Vino Nobile DOCG label. A general riserva tier also exists.
At the top, Santa Caterina and Simposio are both 100 percent Prugnolo Gentile and represent opposite ends of the estate's stylistic range. Santa Caterina, from its namesake hill, spends six full years in bottle after barrel ageing, producing a wine with a plush, sweet palate, aromas of cherries in liqueur, redcurrant, blackberry and myrtle, and a long finish driven by ripe fruit rather than tannin grip. Simposio, from I Palazzi with its southwestern exposure, is denser: the nose carries candied peel, spice and toast, and the palate has tight-knit tannins that hold the wine firm through the finish.
Trerose produces a rosé (Trerosè, a Toscana IGT) and a Vin Santo di Montepulciano DOC dessert wine to complete the range.
In The Glass
The estate Vino Nobile comes through as a dark-fruited, moderately tannic Sangiovese with Marasca cherry and blueberry on the nose and a mineral lift of pencil lead and tobacco on the finish. The Slavonian oak contributes a mild tannin frame without adding resinous wood notes. The Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend give the mid-palate a slightly softer landing than straight Prugnolo Gentile.
Santa Caterina is fuller and more aromatic. The six-year bottle maturation has wound the oak influence down and brought the fruit into the foreground: cherries in liqueur, redcurrant, blackberry and myrtle with orange peel lift. The palate is described as plush and sweet, meaning the ripe Prugnolo fruit reads as generous rather than angular. Acidity is firm at 5.15 grams per litre and holds the weight in balance. The finish is long and fruit-led.
Simposio works from a different character. The southwestern-facing I Palazzi fruit and the smaller barrel format produce a dense palate with tight tannins, a complex nose of ripe red fruit, candied peel, spice and toast, and a finish that closes with what the estate describes as a caressing quality, suggesting the tannins soften at the very end. It is the more grippy and age-oriented of the two top wines.
A Bottle To Understand It
Santa Caterina Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG is the bottle to open first. It comes from a single hill, made entirely from Prugnolo Gentile, aged in large oak barrels for 18 months and then held in bottle for six years before it reaches the shelf. By the time it is released, the wine has resolved into a generous, fruit-forward expression of the grape: cherries in liqueur and myrtle on the nose, a plush and sweet palate, firm acidity, 14.5 percent alcohol, and a long finish. No tight tannins, no raw oak, no secondary complexity that needs further cellaring to be legible. It shows what Prugnolo Gentile grown on this southeastern hill produces when given enough time, and it shows the estate's most deliberate commitment to the wine it bottles rather than the appellation minimum it clears.
Anecdote
At the entrance to the Tenuta Trerose property stands a Roman milestone. It sits in the park in front of the estate's central villa, which was built in 1521. The milestone was not installed there as a decoration. It was already standing when the Renaissance builders arrived, left where it had been set by the road that once crossed this corner of Tuscany on its way toward Umbria. The villa went up around it, or beside it, and the park was eventually laid out to include it. The estate that operates today was formally founded in 1982, more than four and a half centuries after the villa and an indeterminate number of centuries after the road. The 2021 organic harvest was the first fully certified one. The milestone is still in the park.
Final Word
Tenuta Trerose is a large, seriously farmed Vino Nobile estate at the appellation's southeastern margin, with five named hills, 103 hectares of Prugnolo Gentile, and a range that runs from approachable Rosso to two carefully differentiated single-hill expressions. The conversion to organic farming completed in 2021 extends a long commitment to the land. Santa Caterina, with its six-year bottle maturation and single-vineyard fruit, is the most characterful bottle and the clearest argument for the estate's approach.
Sources
- https://tenutatrerose.it/en/company
- https://tenutatrerose.it/en/territory
- https://tenutatrerose.it/en/project
- https://www.angeliniwinesandestates.com/en/estates/tenuta-trerose/
- https://www.uritalianwines.com/winery/trerose-B240.htm
- https://tenutatrerose.it/en/wines/santa-caterina
- https://tenutatrerose.it/en/wines/simposio
- https://tenutatrerose.it/en/wines/vino-nobile-di-montepulciano
- https://tenutatrerose.it/en/wines