Montevertine

Sergio Manetti was working in the steel industry when he bought the Montevertine estate in 1967 as a holiday home. The property, three kilometres south of the village of Radda-in-Chianti, in the heart of Chianti Classico, sits at 425 metres above sea-level and has a long history stretching back to the 11th century when it was used as a defensive fortress. He restored the property, planted two hectares of vines and set up a small cellar, with the idea of making wine for family and friends.

The first vintage he made was 1971 and it was surprisingly good, so he decided to send a few bottles to be shown at the wine fair, Vinitaly – where it drew significant attention. He was so successful, he decided to leave his job in steel and focus on wine, planting more vineyards and building a new winery. Manetti hired the legendary Giulio Gambelli as consultant winemaker (who is also known in particular for his work at Soldera) and Bruno Bini who worked as cellarmaster until his death. The wines grew in fame and rapidly became some of the country’s most prized.

Manetti wanted to craft pure and traditional expressions of their cool site in Chianti. In 1977, the property made its first vintage of a pure Sangiovese – the first in Radda, and among the first in the region – sourced from its oldest vineyard (planted 1968), which also gave its name to the wine: Le Pergole Torte. The wine instantly earned international recognition. Along with Isole e Olena’s Cepparello, San Giusto a Rentennano’s Percarlo and Fontodi’s Flaccianello, Le Pergole Torte broke new ground in the region – championing the power and quality of pure, terroir-driven Sangiovese – even though the Chianti Classico consorzio didn’t permit the wines within the appellation (meaning they were labelled as “vino da tavola” or table wine, as with the Super Tuscans).

In 1982, when the Chianti Classico consorzio made the white grape Trebbiano compulsory in blends, Manetti abandoned the appellation, choosing to bottle all his wines as table wine rather than compromise on quality. He also commissioned artist Alberto Manfredi to create a label for Pergole Torte, depicting a woman – now iconic designs that have only added to the wine’s legendary status. The label varies each year, and although Manfredi has now passed away, he created multiple designs for the estate to use prior to his death.

Although the consorzio later banned the use of white grapes, Montevertine never re-joined; and the wines are now all labelled under the IGT Toscana appellation. In 1990, Montevertine produced a rare Pergole Torte Riserva, ironically bottled as a vino da tavola – and a wine that has become iconic.

Today, the estate consists of 18 hectares of vines, split over nine parcels, and planted to 90% Sangiovese with small portions of Colorino and Canaiolo. Importantly, the estate has never used international grapes. While the wines all take their names from specific vineyards, none of the wines are single-vineyard expressions today. The wines are all fermented in cement, with only gravity used to transfer the wines, and all bottled unfiltered.

Montevertine produces three wines. Le Pergole Torte is the property’s flagship, and while it was a single-vineyard wine until the late 1980s, it developed into a top selection of the estate’s best Sangiovese. The wine is aged for 12 months in large Slavonian casks, then an additional 12 months in French oak. Montevertine is the first wine the estate ever made, essentially a traditional Chianti Classico (and labelled as such prior to 1982). It is made with 90% Sangiovese and 10% Colorino/Canaiolo from old vines, aged for two years in old Slavonian oak. Their entry-level bottling is Pian del Ciampolo, released a year before the other two cuvées, made with fruit from younger vines (around 90% Sangiovese with Colorino and Canaiolo), aged for a year in Slavonian oak.

Le Pergole Torte is only made when conditions allow and wasn’t produced in 1984, 1989, 1991, 2002 or 2005. The property briefly made a white wine (Bianco di Montevertine), however does not produce this anymore. The property did also make some Chianti Classico Riserva, and Montevertine Riserva in some vintages. There was also a wine called Il Sodaccio, first made in 1981 and 1982 for Giorgio Pinchiorri, owner of Enoteca Pinchiorri, a three-star restaurant in Florence. The last vintage was 1998, when the eponymous vineyard was ripped out having suffered from the trunk disease esca.

Sergio Manetti passed away in 2000, and his son Martino Manetti took over running the estate. He works with the late Giulio Gambelli’s protégé Paolo Salvi to make the wines, which are as impressive as ever and now highly collectable. Production is around 85,000 bottles a year.