Badia a Coltibuono

Vallombrosan monks founded the abbey of Coltibuono in 1051, and its bell tower has stood over the cloister since about 1150. A document from the abbey holds one of the earliest known mentions of the name Chianti. After the monks left, the Florentine banker Michele Giuntini bought the abbey and its land in 1846, and his descendants, the Stucchi Prinetti family, still run it. Lorenza de' Medici started a cooking school here, one of the first in Tuscany.

The estate has 70 hectares of vines, farmed organically since 1994 and certified since 2000. Coltibuono stays loyal to Chianti's old grapes. Next to the Sangiovese grow Canaiolo, Colorino, Mammolo, Ciliegiolo, Pugnitello and others, propagated from the estate's own best vines. The wines are made at the Monti cellar nearby and aged in large Austrian and French casks.

Cultus is the estate's top Riserva, a blend of all nine old red grapes. The cellar keeps vintages back to the late 1930s, and once the cloister door closes behind you, it feels like stepping back several centuries.