La Màgia, Brunello di Montalcino

Today’s wine comes from one of the most charming locations in the Montalcino wine zone, enjoying a panoramic view of what seems to be the entirety of Tuscany, but there’s something more mundane, more transactional, that needs to be said right out of the gate: Collectible wines of this quality, at this price, are incredibly rare. Perched at about 450 meters on the southeastern slope of the Montalcino hill, La Màgia not only embraced organic farming long before it was fashionable here but has been a reliable source of some of the most evocative, traditionally styled Brunello and Rosso di Montalcino wines in the zone—wines with some of the rusticity and wildness that distinguished those of the great Gianfranco Soldera.The only problem with La Màgia has been finding the wines; it’s been an on-again, off-again love affair for me thanks to the vagaries of the export market, but after “re-discovering” the wines at a trade tasting about a year ago, I felt like a long-lost friend had come back