Making sense of some wines can sometimes seem as confusing as many of the convoluted plots in murder mysteries by Agatha Christie or Arthur Conan Doyle. But once you make sense of it all, knowing more about a particular wine can be just as satisfying as figuring out who’s the killer in a Hercule Poirot or Sherlock Holmes story.

Take Montepulciano and Montalcino. One is an outstanding, affordable, delicious wine from Italy. The other costs significantly more but is worth every penny. So what’s the difference?  The two Italian words sound similar. Are they are a particular place?