Count Francesco Marone Cinzano, high altitude hunter, gentleman farmer and owner of Col d’ Orcia in Montalchino Michèle Shah meets Count Francesco Marone Cinzano, gentleman farmer and high-altitude hunter, who also happens to make great wine. Col d’Orcia literally means the hill overlooking the Orcia River, which marks the southwest border of the Brunello di Montalcino territory, linking the name of the farm intrinsically to the physical location where the vineyards are planted. The Val d’Orcia is a unique territory that was declared part of the Patrimony of Humanity in the year 2004. Purchased by the Marone Cinzano family in 1973, it is one of Montalcino’s historic estates situated in Sant’Angelo in Colle. Count Francesco Marone Cinzano took over the running of the estate in 1991, converting it in 2010 to become Tuscany’s largest organic winery with a total of 142 hectares of vineyards, of which 102 hectares are exclusively planted to Brunello di Montalcino producing 250,000 bottles