Monteverro: The story of a contemporary legend

WINE

Monteverro: The story of a contemporary legend

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December 1, 2024

Monteverro: The story of a contemporary legend

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‘I met the Weber household when making wine at [Napa Valley’s] Newton Winery,’ explains Jean Hoefliger, now advisor winemaker at Monteverro. ‘After they returned almost three years later, they introduced me an outdated Bordeaux as a thank-you for internet hosting them.’

Hoefliger, having labored at Château Lynch-Bages, Château Carbonnieux and South Africa’s prestigious Meerlust property, identified for its iconic Bordeaux-style blends, was one of many first to convey a Bordelais method to California.

The Webers felt that his deft hand within the cellar shone via within the high quality of Newton Winery’s Bordeaux-style wines.

Homeowners Julia and Georg Weber. Credit score: Stefano Scatà

Monteverro is born

Georg Weber initially labored in his household’s enterprise, Dehner, a number one German gardening and residential retailer chain. His spouse, Julia, studied music in Munich and enterprise legislation in Augsburg. In the meantime, the couple’s shared ardour for wonderful wine – particularly Bordeaux – had them dreaming of a vineyard of their very own.

In 2003, they discovered an property occupying three hills within the Maremma space of Tuscany, 5 miles from the medieval village of Capalbio and simply three miles from the Tyrrhenian Sea.

‘I used to be deeply satisfied of the potential for producing nice wines on this space of Tuscany,’ Georg recollects, ‘My dream from the start was to create a world-renowned wine and to pioneer winemaking on this a part of Tuscany.’

Hoefliger, concerned from the beginning, remembers the Webers’ imaginative and prescient: ‘They needed to be the Château Latour of Maremma.’

Hoefliger was equally assured that southern Maremma may produce world-class wine. On his suggestion, Monteverro introduced in two extra star winemakers: grasp blender Michel Rolland as a advisor and Hoefliger’s former colleague Matthieu Taunay as resident winemaker.

In addition to being impressed by Bordeaux, the Webers additionally aimed to convey the essence of Rhône winemaking to Tuscany. Certainly one of Monteverro’s signature wines, Tinata, is a Rhône-style mix of Syrah and Grenache, and is devoted to Georg’s mom, Tina, a lover of Rhône wines.

Over 16 vintages, the wines have been finessed to disclose the property’s distinct character. Credit score: Leif Carlsson

Beginning with a legacy in thoughts

The Webers constructed one of many space’s most technologically superior wineries, geared up with customized stainless-steel fermentation tanks, state-of-the-art temperature controls, gravity-flow methods and concrete eggs and small barriques for ageing.

The primary vines have been planted in 2004: Bordeaux and Rhône varieties, to swimsuit the Mediterranean local weather and stony, crimson clay soils. Monteverro’s inaugural classic adopted 4 years later.

Nevertheless, the primary few vintages have been declassified, Hoefliger explains, as a result of they didn’t meet the group’s excessive requirements: ‘The Webers have created an property not for instantaneous recognition, however for legacy.’

Immediately, Monteverro spans 60 hectares, with 38ha underneath vine, whereas the rest helps a vibrant ecosystem of olive timber and Mediterranean flora. The close by Tyrrhenian Sea brings year-round onshore breezes that mood the nice and cozy summer season nights.

‘Our organic-certified vineyards thrive in a singular soil composition of crimson clay and pebbles, offering wonderful drainage,’ explains winemaker Matthieu Taunay, whereas the crimson clay base retains important moisture for the vines throughout hotter months.

Nice-tuning over many vintages has uncovered the property’s distinct character, which Hoefliger describes as combining herbaceousness and spice from the encircling forests with ‘iodine or saltiness from the ocean.’

Credit score: Take a look at SRLS

Monteverro: The property’s flagship wine

‘Our terroir is completely suited to Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc,’ says Georg. The property’s flagship wine, Monteverro, combines these grapes with Merlot and Petit Verdot, fermented in small tanks organised by microplot, in order that indigenous yeasts can spotlight every terroir’s distinctive character.

‘Our Monteverro mix reveals wonderful ageing potential, strong construction, stability and freshness, combining all of the Mediterranean aromas of the Tuscan coast,’ says Georg, ‘After I style the 2019 Monteverro, I really feel extraordinarily lucky to have discovered this terroir.’