I spent a day at the Monteverro estate on the Costa d'Argento in the far southern part of the Maremma. Between the vineyards, the winery and the tastings. An experience to share.
For those who love Tuscany, and the Maremma, the Capalbio area is a microcosm in itself. Going to visit the Monteverro company – between the village of Capalbio and the Tyrrhenian Sea – is a beautiful experience, especially if you are lucky enough to happen upon a beautiful sunny day, since the view from the vineyards sweeps over the entire countryside, the Mediterranean maquis, the villages perched on the hills, Monte Argentario to the sea and the island of Giannutri.
I was fortunate enough to visit with the owners, Germans, Georg Weber and his wife Julia, both in love with this Costa d’Argento where Geog decided in the early 2000s to buy a property. He was a young collector of great wines and decided to launch himself into production, aiming for excellence right from the start, right in his beloved Tuscany. The way to get there, to get to know in depth that terroir so devoted to international grape varieties was the micro-parceling of harvests, separate vinifications, experiments.
International and Maremma staff together
Working alongside them to realize Georg’s initial vision are a number of key people from a wide variety of backgrounds: French winemaker Matthieu Taunay, German general manager Michael Vögele and South Tyrolean sales manager Andreas Comploj. Then consultants Michel Rolland, from France, and Jean Höfliger, from Switzerland-California, who come to the company twice a year for assemblies. All local, on the other hand, are the staff of the estate, making up the real trait d’union With the territory. The owners commute between Munich, where they live, and the Maremma, where they spend all their free time.
“Since we arrived the climate has changed a lot – Julia tells -. The seasons are getting hotter and drier, for example in 2023 the last real rains were in June. And water is an important parameter. The real challenge now is how to Managing stressed vineyards, reduced amounts of water, drought. For us being organic, it is crucial to keep the soils alive, which means porous, soft, oxygenated thanks to microorganisms.” Determinant of soil and environmental biodiversity, the presence of the bush, the forest. A hill with one and a half hectares of ancient olive groves was left in the middle of the vineyards. There are orchards, vegetable garden for employees, in short: a family-type agriculture that abhors monocultures.
Mathieu Taunay’s wine management.
The pivot around which the production revolves is Mathieu Taunay. Arriving in 2008, after a series of experiences abroad, he immediately fell in love with the project and to arrive at today’s 40 hectares planted with vines, he worked hard to Understanding soils and their microbiological viability. Hence the choice of green manures from 2010 depending on the need of the more or less vigorous plots. Once the soils are balanced, the confirmation of organic, certified in 2019.“In the last 5-6 years we have been anticipating the harvests more and more, to maintain our style,” Mathieu says. “We have the cooling tunnel where all the grapes are brought in, it only takes a few hours. Manual selection, destemming and starting the grapes in the tank by fall. We have 45 tanks to keep everything separate, macerations last from 7 to 25 days, with no defined rule. The decision whether or not to racking is only gustatory.”
Winery tastings
There in the winery we did some tastings from the tanks and barrels, to better understand the wines. We started with the Chardonnay 2022, which fermented in barrels (25% new), either from the concrete egg or a new barrel. Very fresh, saline, vertical the former, rounder, broad with volume and plumpness the second. Perfect in view of the blend. Then, individually, the Grenache and Syrah that will go into the Tinata 2023. Only steel for the former. Explosive on the nose, with barely rough tannins but equal aromatic explosion in the mouth. Syrah in wood, harvested early. Spicy and with ample tannins, a solid base For an aging wine. Again, a combination that is glimpsed to be a winner. Already assembled the Tinata 2022, of great olfactory satisfaction and from the Exuberant tannins just raw but fine. We finished with the Cabernet Franc 2022, Difficult year to understand. Very varietal, it will bring character, personality, even a certain rusticity to the blend. For finesse there will be Cabernet Sauvignon.
Leaving the cellar, it was the turn of the bottled wines, with a few backward jumps on earlier vintages. All accompanied by an excellent lunch curated by Valeria Piccini, star chef who owns with her husband Maurizio Menichetti and son Andrea the restaurant Cain in Montemerano.
TO READ THE WINE DESCRIPTIONS, WITH SCORE AND AVERAGE SHELF PRICE, CLICK ON THE TABS BELOW.
TASTINGS
