Ercolani, Contucci, De Ricci

Name: Ercolani, Contucci, De Ricci
Address: Tuscany, IT

Walk Montepulciano's 15th-century underground city at Ercolani, Contucci, or De Ricci—1000 years of Montepulciano wine families competing to host the deepest cellars.

What to do there

TourVino Nobile di Montepulciano UndergroundMontepulciano sits on tufa rock, and for 500 years, noble families carved wine cellars 3 stories DOWN into it. The Ercolani cellars beneath Palazzo Tarugi go through Gothic passages, Ghibelline hideouts, Renaissance foundations, and two ACTUAL ETRUSCAN TOMBS. You'll drink Vino Nobile—Italy's first DOCG (1980)—in caves where refugees hid during medieval wars. This isn't a wine tour. It's archaeology with a corkscrew.

Wineries nearby

Winery Cantine Contucci 1000 years of vines — the Contuccis cultivated since the 11th century and are the putative fathers of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano (doc 1773).
Winery Pienza: Pecorino & Wine Capital Fifteenth-century Pienza, ringed by Val d'Orcia vineyards, pairs its legendary Pecorino sheep cheese with local Vino Nobile—a cheese-wine marriage that defines Tuscany's soul.
Winery Poggio di Sotto Certified organic estate founded in 1989 on Montalcino's southeast slope, stewarding 182+ Sangiovese biotypes that freely cross-pollinate—a living botanical archive of Tuscany's greatest red grape.