The historical Italian region, located in a strategic position and therefore at the centre of numerous conflicts for its control,
Monferrato is a complex reality from the wine perspective, in part still undiscovered. Land with
gentle and generous but also proud hills, Monferrato appears to be in a continuous landscape with the Langhe, with which it shares its membership in the
UNESCO World Heritage Site. Yet the viticultural landscape is very different.
Located further east than the Langhe, but still in Piedmont, straddling the provinces of Asti and Alessandria, the Monferrato wine area excels above all in the south-facing vineyards on calcareous-clayey white soils, which are rather poor and capable of producing wine of high distinction, sometimes exceptionally structured and long-lasting.
The best district, which includes the western part of Alessandria, the southern Asti part and the Casalese area, produces wines that can easily match the wines from the Langhe. They are above all reds, with Barbera at the helm, which is the most representative Monferrato grape. The protagonist of many small denominations and of the Nizza Monferrato cru, Barbera, here, has gone from the traditional sparkling wine to the character of the strong still wine from aging.
Not the ideal area for Nebbiolo, Monferrato is the native cradle of increasingly popular vines, such as the Ruché, typical of northern Asti (land of more ready-to-drink and delicate wines), and Grignolino, another vine that, from purely easy-to-drink, has shown its colours as a wine which is robust and which can be aged. A whimsical wine with splendidly rustic features, Grignolino is the ideal counterbalance to the enveloping and seductive Barbera: you must try them together!
Dolcetto, Cortese, Freisa, Malvasia Nera, Moscato Bianco and a wealth of other vines complete a wine landscape of extraordinary heterogeneity. And the Monferrato Rosso? An everyday wine, where the protagonists of the territory often meet highly integrated international grapes.