Castelnuovo dell’Abate forms the southeast fraction of the Montalcino hill, increasingly well-known for skilled Sangiovese producers (including neighbors Stella di Campalto and Poggio di Sotto). As a relative youngster compared to many of his compatriots, Filippo Bellini quickly realized that the area is highly competitive, but has incredible respect for his neighbors’ work. “Humans are the antagonists of wine,” Filippo tells us, “And our winery is growing, like a sister or brother, along with us.”
Filippo joined his mother Janet and stepfather Per in 2019 at the estate known as Tenuta Buon Tempo, which they had purchased in 2012. Per was making wine at a Bordeaux Château, and Janet had followed her art passion to Florence in her earlier years; the shared love of Tuscany led them to Montalcino in search of an estate. Filippo had spent a harvest at the Bordeaux house in between his own art studies, quickly fell in love with the processes, and proceeded to enroll instead at the Florence viticole.
With a whirlwind first few years at Buon Tempo – his first harvest in 2019, followed by his daughter’s birth in 2020 coinciding with the pandemic – Filippo used his early trials to form his theory on wine as a whole: “Wine is a series of compromises, but with an ideal; we can’t harvest all fourteen hectares in one day, nor should we want to.” The goal, he continues, “Is to make the best Sangiovese; we are eternally figuring out how to do that!”
With time, shared experience with their neighbors and with the help of industry contacts, Filippo and family have discovered what a special place they inhabit. A recent session with famed viticultural consultant Pedro Parra infused Filippo with a terrific passion for the vineyards, with the discovery of a wide array of soil types, including some similar to top Burgundy Grand Crus. In such a warm and dry area, the understanding of the terroir is of paramount importance, in order to understand how one site can react to stress in juxtaposition to others on different soils, with different expositions.
As we’ve seen in many a producer throughout Europe, the family and vineyard team can imagine a world where the definition of Brunello di Montalcino morphs. “There are two hundred and thirty producers of Brunello,” Filippo explains, “But the future depends on the benchmark producers, their ability to change.” He explains further that Biondi-Santi pioneered the current style we know of Brunello today, a wine entirely constructed of Sangiovese, aged longer to allow greater complexity. Yet now, Filippo jokes, “Per bought Brunello di Montalcino vineyards, but he just loves to drink the Rosso.”
It is their job, he continues, to give the Rosso an identity beyond what so many consider a Tuscan house’s Rosso to be: “A baby Brunello”, or a combination platter of left-overs. In the beautiful watercolor labels, painted by Filippo’s mother, the explanation is illustrated: “The Rosso is the plants - a topical view, very giving, approachable, showcasing a youthfulness; the Brunello shows the underground: more complex, more artful, a deeper-lying structure that will take longer to understand.” After all, says Filippo, amid the prolonged (a five-year duration) aging of the Brunello, “The wine can have had three different personalities already.
VITICULTURE & VINIFICATION
As of 2026, Filippo informs us that eight plots have been isolated by taste as having unique characteristics. The best are kept separate, and these will be fermented in concrete & oak casks; the remaining parcels are vinified in stainless steel, though by no means is this dogmatic. With the continued growth and understanding of the estate, Filippo envisions a potential to isolate plots, but enjoys the art of blending just as much. “Imagine one plot lending energy and vibrancy, then another tank bringing more tannin - they can easily benefit each other!”
The newest, most northern vineyard (partially re-planted in 2022 & 2026) is pure clay; the remainder has mostly silt and sand, a local variety of schist, and ancient compacted clay all above hard metamorphic rock. The nearby volcano (Monte Amiata) lent plenty of iron and magnesium content, providing the reddish tone that prevails throughout. The Brunello vineyards sit close to the house, while the sections utilized for the Rosso lie lower on the slope; “They are more complicated,” Filippo kids, as they have a higher water content and more organic substance. “The wines are lower-acidity than the Brunello,” he adds, “But are incredibly drinkable!”
With the vines, the canopy is allowed to grow naturally, without leaves being removed; this could re-concentrate the vine’s energy by encouraging more shorts to grow. If anything, the raised canopy will allow a more efficient ripening season, Filippo explained, without allowing the grapes to get too warm. As the heat grows throughout the growing season, grass is allowed to grow among the vines, and they will scratch the surface to allow some aeration.
Heat does remain an issue each vintage; when they chose to re-plant in 2022, even though irrigation is not part of the normal doctrine, the winery had to purchase water to keep the young plants alive. All told, around 1200 of the 9000 plants perished from the heat. Still, Filippo and his team keep a watchful eye over the vineyards, striving to maintain a balance in their vineyard, intervening as little as possible to allow the vines to flourish.
