Braccesca Merlot
⏳ Drinking Window
2022 - 2026
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Roasted rosemary lamb chops, wild mushroom risotto, and medium-aged cheeses like Pecorino Toscano.
✨ Technical Specifications
La Braccesca, an estate acquired by the historic Antinori family in 1990, spans a unique terroir divided between the historic appellations of Montepulciano and Cortona. The estate's name and coat of arms—an armored arm holding a sword—pay homage to the historic Count of Bracci. While Montepulciano is celebrated for its Sangiovese, the clay-rich soils and warm microclimate of the Cortona zone of the estate provide an exceptional home for international varieties, particularly Merlot. This wine represents a harmonious marriage of Tuscan elegance and the plush, velvety nature of the Merlot grape. Fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel and aged carefully in French oak barriques, it delivers a rich profile of dark plums, blackberries, and subtle sweet spices, reflecting the sun-drenched hillsides of eastern Tuscany.
🍾 About the Producer
Marchesi Antinori is one of the world's most storied winemaking dynasties, tracing its commercial viticultural heritage to 1385 when Giovanni di Piero Antinori matriculated into Florence's Arte dei Vinattieri. Spanning twenty-six generations, the family revolutionized modern Italian viticulture under Marchese Piero Antinori and legendary enologist Giacomo Tachis, catalyzing the Super Tuscan revolution with the pioneering release of Tignanello in 1971. Antinori commands an unrivaled tapestry of microclimates across Central Italy, encompassing the galestro and albarese marls of Chianti Classico at Tenuta Tignanello and Badia a Passignano, the maritime gravels of Bolgheri at Guado al Tasso, and the fossiliferous clay-limestone soils of Umbria at Castello della Sala. In the cellar, CEO and chief enologist Renzo Cotarella orchestrates a balance of precision, clonal selection, and judicious French oak barrique maturation. Antinori's benchmark wines—including the Sangiovese-driven Tignanello, the Cabernet-dominated Solaia, and the benchmark Umbrian Chardonnay blend Cervaro della Sala—stand as definitive monuments of Italian winemaking refinement.