It is attested that the Contucci family has been making wine since the year 1008, in an uninterrupted tradition of 40 generations. The entire process, from the harvesting of grapes for fermentation, the drying of those for vinsanto, to the refining of the wine in barrels and the bottling itself, has taken place in the same place for centuries, in a building 31 metres high, erected from the year 1000 as an integral part of the oldest walls of Montepulciano. Arriving here today is not easy among the climbs, curves and narrow streets, but a millennium ago there was not yet the rest of the medieval town that would then extend to the foot of the fortress. The cellars today are therefore, paradoxically, at the highest point of the city: this detail testifies more than any other to their remote origin. The ancient vaults, full of barrels of excellent wine, can be visited free of charge every day, and free is also the basic tasting of the wines produced here (Rosso di Montepulciano, Nobile, a white and a vinsanto). Some of the barrels are located in the dungeons of the former guardhouse, which occupied part of the ground floor of the building. On the occasion of the grape harvest, these lower spaces, where the grapes are gathered for fermentation, are also open to the public: once the vinification process has begun, it is no longer possible to visit them because of the carbon dioxide that develops naturally.
