The End of the Cru as we know it - Marone Cinzano's Lot.1
- Aug 13, 2025
- 8 min read
When I heard that Santiago Marone Cinzano, scion of the family that once owned Cinzano and son of Francesco Marone Cinzano, owner of Col d’Orcia in Montalcino, has come up with a wine that does away altogether with the concept of crus or single vineyards, I was at first sceptical.
The wine, called Lot.1, which will from a different plot each vintage, looked like a vanity project of the 30-years old, not least due to the super-confident marketing material, claiming that Marone Cinzano ‘is pioneering a revolutionary viticultural philosophy.’
The concept of Lot.1 is to select a single plot or vineyard that produces the best Sangiovese in a particular vintage. It is diametrically opposed to the idea of the cru: a single plot or vineyard that excels every year regardless of the vintage.