It takes a good mouth and a very sensitive sense of smell to evaluate a great wine. An in-depth knowledge of the wine sector and the international market to produce and sell
a label of excellence. The calibre of the senses and studies are certainly indispensable for those who want to embark on this adventure but on their own, they are not enough. The stuff, the real stuff, can be seen in the passion. And passion is not passed on through genes but is subject to the universal language of love at first sight, going through ups and downs like all loves and felt in the gut from a young age. To the point of sending you into the red for an overpriced bottle.
Olga Peluso Centolani – known as Donna Olga by wine lovers and Lady O by her more jesting colleagues – knows something about this. At the age of twelve, Olga bought a bottle of fine wine in Burgundy as a gift for her father. A gift that risked costing her a lot! “For a child it was a bit of an overstated gift, I recognise that,” she says, “but I wanted it so much, so I bought it, ran out of money and in order to be able to afford the train ticket home, my friends passed around a hat.”
Blessed youth or a sign of the future that awaited her? The fact is that in the meantime, the girl with origins from Naples on her father’s side and Ferrara on her mother’s, has honed her passion for high-quality wine over the decades spent in contact with world-famous agronomists and oenologists. She then chose Tuscany as her heartland, taking on the responsibility of managing the entire production cycle from the vineyard to the wine of the family estates and became a leading entrepreneur of Brunello di Montalcino, one of the most loved and appreciated Italian wines around the world. But of Burgundy, she has never forgotten the concept of terroir and even more that of Cru, on which she has based the choice of distinguishing the production philosophies of her two estates. The first is the Friggiali Estate in the south-west of Montalcino, with its vineyards sloping from 450 to 200 metres, being cool, ventilated and able to offer up a Brunello with excellent structure that is also austere and long-lived, as befits a traditional Brunello. Then there is the Pietranera Estate on the south-eastern side, with sunlit vineyards on a plain protected by Monte Amiata, home to Brunellos that are warm and full-bodied, fruity and composite.
Their story began in the 1980s, when the Peluso Centolani family approached the wine business by purchasing an old estate with vineyards in Montalcino.

How did the decision to invest in the wine sector come about and what are the sentimental, as well as economic, reasons that have guided your family all these years?
“When my family bought the Friggiali Estate, there were only four hectares of old vineyards. My father, a hunter, had been struck by the woods and wanted to turn that corner of the Tuscan countryside – located in a rather historic area of Montalcino, very cold in winter and windy the rest of the year – into a buen retiro when he retired. The charm of the place is undeniable. The area is much admired for its indescribable views, even today the mayor often tells me, ‘You have paradise under your feet’. But for me, those four hectares of vines were the flame that ignited a passion I’ve always had, ever since I was a child, fuelled by the family’s habit of tasting good wine and by my studies in Burgundy. On the wave of this passion, we planted another 15 hectares of vines and only later, in the 1990s, did we add an additional 20 hectares of Brunello land in the Pietranera Estate, the second. All this is to say that we made our start from scratch, beginning with four hectares of old vines, putting in hard work and our passion for this sector, to today have the Friggiali and Pietranera Estates, 42 hectares of vineyards registered for Brunello from which come the wines of the same name that are now known all over the world.”

How much did the land – with its centuries-old tradition, the still-lively dialectic between owner and farmer – influence the direction of the estates’ production?
“The territory and its traditions were fundamental. When I chose to dedicate my life to Montalcino and Brunello, deciding to invest in the quality of the wine, we realised that the only real possibility of establishing ourselves on the market was to produce a classic, traditional Brunello, cultivated according to the methods of the farmers of the time. In thirty years, of course, cellar equipment and certain winemaking techniques have evolved but from the point of view of viticulture, what I was taught back then remains in first place. Good wine is made in the vineyard – the cellar only preserves the quality but it is the grapes, the analysis of the chemical components of the soil and polyphenols, the pH and acidity that make all the difference. I am not for the modernisation of single-vineyard wines, otherwise they would resemble other blended wines and the taste would be flattened out. For me, each wine produced is like a human being to whom I give care and attention calibrated to the needs of the individual personality. Progress will come when nature and man truly intersect.”

How would you describe your wines if you had to present them as men in the flesh?
“The Brunello di Montalcino Tenuta Friggiali is austere but also generous. The Brunello Pietranera is more of a muscular young man who needs time to acquire the classic elegance of a seasoned gentleman. The Brunello di Montalcino Tenuta Donna Olga is a bit of a separate case because it comes from recently-restored vineyards and is thus a budding promise that needs time and training to be evaluated.”
Your wines have received significant journalistic awards. The Brunello di Montalcino Tenuta Friggiali was named Best Italian Wine of 2012 by the English magazine Decanter and was awarded 3 glasses by Gambero Rosso, whilst the Brunello di Montalcino Pietranera was granted 94 points and the Poggiotondo 93 points by Wine Spectator.

Which awards do you value most?
“The recognition I most value is that of the people who recognise me through my wines and come to visit me after years at our estates. Once in England, stopped on the side of the road thanks to a broken-down car, I was helped by a couple who recognised me because they had drunk my wine and remembered my name and face. An extraordinary event, certainly, but also a sign of how consumers recognise quality products and producers.”

Your wines are mostly sold abroad, in North America. What are the market trends internationally?
“When I arrived in Montalcino, the market was very much tied to traditional Brunello. Then there came a time when there was a demand for slightly more standardised wines because the consumer was not sufficiently informed. With the flow of intelligent tourism in Italian wine-growing areas that has characterised the last few years, however, people are once again looking to local wines. Internationally, the markets have realigned themselves to the offer of traditional wines, which respect the terroir without renouncing the completeness of the wine. A traditional wine is not a rustic wine but one that is expressive of its terroir. A Brunello is a great wine more due to its capacity for extensive ageing than for its structure, which is still there. The Brunello has body on its side, yes, but above it has all the ability to age, which is rare in the wines of the world.”

As a member of the National Association Le Donne del Vino, can you explain what role women are carving out for themselves in the wine market, both on the producer and consumer sides?
“Without discriminating against men, I would say that women in this sector have a big advantage because they are much more sensitive and interested in the olfactory component, they know how to appreciate not only the taste, structure and body of wine but also its aromas. Not only businesswomen and wine enthusiasts, female consumers also particularly appreciate the olfactory component of a good wine, demonstrating a more complete tasting style.”

Alessia Cotroneo, Il Gusto