ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the large wine-producing estates of Montalcino in order to explore some of the characteristics of a very successful rural economy based on wage-labour, advanced technology and market specialization. It starts with a brief account of the twenty years after the last-war, when the share-cropping system declined, and the estates became empty shells. The chapter documents the changes in the ownership of the estates and more particularly of the vineyards, and is followed by a brief account of the technicalities of wine making. It deals with the present day organization of land, labour and technology amongst different categories of wine producers. For small farmers the major barriers to Brunello production were the costs of cellar equipment and the risks of launching a product in a luxury market, problems which emerged clearly in the late 1960s when the potential role of quality wine in the Montalcino economy was first widely appreciated.
