Winemaker Notes
Montiano is deep ruby-red in color and exhibits a wide range of aromas, from vanilla to red berries and fruit along with layers of jam and sweet spice. It is powerful and full-bodied, yet well-rounded on the palate with an elegant and lingering finish. One of the most sought after wines from central Italy.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Very pretty mineral, blackberry, licorice and dark chocolate aromas follow through to a full-bodied palate, with ultrafine tannins and a gorgeous finish. Merlot. Best from 2008 through 2014.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2005 Montiano (Merlot) is a very pretty, accessible version of this wine with an elegant expression of dark fruit, sweet herbs and toasted oak. To be sure the 2005 is a slender Montiano but what it lacks in concentration it more than makes up for with superb drinkability. This is a beautifully balanced wine to drink now and over the next few years. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2013.
When asked to name common Italian red grapes, most wine drinkers would probably begin with Sangiovese and continue with various other indigenous varieties. But Merlot (along with several other international varieties) has a significant presence in Italy, with over 60,000 acres planted. Granted, much of this is everyday quaffing wine grown in the northeast by producers taking advantage of the vine’s prolific nature, especially in the Veneto and Friuli.
But through much of the country the wine is grown with more care and used predominantly as a blending agent, thereby adding a certain soft, fleshy appeal to a great many reds. Of course, this practice is often not mentioned on labels. In Tuscany, Merlot appears in a wide variety of blends, as well as sometimes in Chianti Classico. In fact, Italian Merlot reaches its greatest heights in the coastal Tuscan region of Maremma. Here it appears in blends and – spectacularly – in 100% varietal expressions like Masseto, L’Apparita and Messorio. Italian Merlots such as these boast the power, concentration and complexity seen in the finest examples from Bordeaux’s Right Bank.