The La Gerla property is situated at 320 metres above sea level, on the gentle slopes below Montalcino. This small wine estate has established itself as one of the great crùs in this territory in the heart of Tuscany, delineated by the Orcia and Ombrone valleys.
The owner, Sergio Rossi, was formerly involved in advertising. He was the director of three European offices of a famous agency and was used to travelling for work and to losing sleep over lay-outs and jingles. These days he is almost an "ilcinese," and he loves his vineyards as if they were children.
This gentleman, with his vivacious character, has succeeded in his goal of creating a small crù in Montalcino where the most modern technology is combined with the know-how of local men and one winemaker. At La Gerla, human intervention plays an important role is extracting excellent Tuscan products from the land.
The farmhouse, with the characteristic name "Colombaia" was once the property of the Biondi Santi family. They used it to make one of the best Brunellos in the area. Sergio Rossi purchased the property in 1976 and restructured it with care and attention to detail. Not long afterwards, in 1978, he created the trademark La Gerla.
Today the estate has 11,5 hectares (28,41 acres) under vine and large modern cellars complete with the latest technology. Sergio Rossi is flanked by a united team of people that have helped him to achieve his goal; the winemaker, Vittorio Fiore, who has been with the estate from the start and is both a friend and a trusted professional, Alberto Passeri, agronomist and director of the estate, Marisa the cellar boss, Luca the vineyard overseer and Sonia who deals with the estate administration.
Last but not least, Seriano, the first "contadino" to work on the estate, has returned to the property. At La Gerla, as well as the development and continual evolution of our technology, we still give great importance to the people and the sentiments that are behind our wines and, for this reason, we couldn't give up on a local man, a real "ilcinese" with land and wine in his blood!
Perhaps this is one of the reasons why, in recent years, La Gerla has received consensus and high points in the best guides and trade publications, as well as appreciation in wine stores and restaurants. Could it be that our clients, when they taste a glass of Brunello La Gerla or Birba, perceive in the bouquet, along with the notes of berries and vanilla, some of the love of those that made the wine?
The La Gerla estate has 11,5 hectares (28,41 acres) under vine. The vineyards are in two different areas, both within the confines of Montalcino territory ; Canalicchio (north east) and Castelnuovo dell'Abate (south east).
The cellars are located just below the town of Montalcino, in an area famous for its tradition of small family-run estates.
The primary ageing cellar is in underground cellars that are situated underneath a 15th century tower. While being a very evocative location this cellar also presents optimum characteristics of temperature and humidity. This is where the large oak barrels are kept and where our wine library is located, containing the most precious bottles of La Gerla, from the first vintage of production (1976).
The second ageing cellar is also partially underground. It was constructed more recently but with great attention to the architectural and structural features that allow for perfect natural ageing; insulation and good natural ventilation. This cellar is home to large oak barrels (100 and 50 Hl) and 50 French oak barriques (Vosge and Allier) in which our Birba is aged.
The vinification cellar is next to the bottling, labelling and storage areas. The capacity of the stainless steel vats is 1.700 hectolitres. Our wines benefit from extremely modern technology, such as temperature control during fermentation, macro-oxygenation and special vats for delestages, continuous flow pumps in order to avoid problems during bottling, micro-filtration, sterilisers and a bottling machine in a controlled environment. The bottles are corked in a vacuum with the use of nitrogen in order to avoid the damaging effects of oxidation.