Salicutti
Podere Salicutti is located in Montalcino and farms 4.5 hectares of Sangiovese across the three crus Teatro, Piaggione and Sorgente. Francesco Leanza cleared the land in 1994 and planted the vines on the slope surrounding the cantina, which remains the heart of the estate to this day. Sabine and Felix Eichbauer carry on their predecessor's organic commitment and have farmed biodynamically since 2022, following Demeter guidelines. The estate covers eleven hectares in total, with the remainder divided between olive grove and woodland. The cellar produces exclusively Sangiovese, bottled as Brunello di Montalcino with extended oak ageing, alongside a Rosso di Montalcino and the Elsa IGT Toscana Rosso.
Montalcino and the marl beneath it
Montalcino lies in Tuscany, about 35 kilometres from the Tyrrhenian Sea, under a Mediterranean climate. Beneath the vines of Podere Salicutti lies marl rock, 60 to 80 million years old, a calcareous marl well suited to Sangiovese. The vines planted in 1994 grow in soils that have never come into contact with conventional treatments; in 1996 Podere Salicutti became the first estate in Montalcino to receive organic certification.
Sabine and Felix Eichbauer
Sabine and Felix Eichbauer came from Munich to Montalcino and took over the estate from Francesco Leanza. The family has long been familiar with the restaurant trade: Felix's father, Fritz Eichbauer, founded the restaurant Tantris together with Eckart Witzigmann in 1971. "The land was here before us; it now nourishes our vines, and it will still be here once we are gone" is the sentence by which the family guides its work. Sabine Eichbauer is an architect and renovated the entire estate in 2018; since then, a turquoise glass column by architect Massimiliano Fuksas has pierced through the cellar.
Teatro, Piaggione and Sorgente
Teatro is the smallest cru at 0.7 hectares, lying to the left of the cantina, planted in 1994 and opening south like an amphitheatre. At 520 metres it is the estate's coolest site and ripens late; it yields the Brunello di Montalcino Teatro Riserva. Piaggione covers 1.2 hectares at the foot of the cantina, facing east-southeast, on skeletal, fossil-rich limestone soils at 420 to 450 metres; from it comes the powerful Brunello di Montalcino Piaggione.
Sorgente spans 1.5 hectares behind the cantina, at 450 metres, with heavy clay and sand soils along with stony galestro; the Brunello di Montalcino Sorgente ripens correspondingly late. Sabine Eichbauer names Teatro as her favourite site, Felix Eichbauer the Piaggione.
Vineyard and cellar
The estate is home to donkeys grazing among the olive trees and chickens roaming the vine rows; Podere Salicutti is a member of the respekt-BIODYN association. Every vine is tended individually, and harvesting and selection are done by hand. Cellar master Gianni Fabbri vinifies exclusively Sangiovese, and the Brunelli age for a long time in oak. Monika Larner of Robert Parker's Wine Advocate called this purity of Sangiovese the "Holy Grail". Alongside the single-vineyard wines, the estate also produces a Brunello di Montalcino, a Rosso di Montalcino and the Elsa IGT Toscana Rosso.