Montaribaldi Roero Arneis Capural 2015
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2020-
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In 1994, Pino's son Luciano took over the reigns and changed the name of the family business to Azienda Agricole of Montaribaldi. The name is an homage to the agricultural roots of the Taliano family, Azienda Agricola translates as, "agricultural business." The name Montaribaldi refers to the ancient Roman road that linked the winery to the different vineyards throughout the Piedmont, thus creating a philosophical and geographical umbrella that tied Luciano's forward looking domaine to the rich viticultural history of the region.
A dedicated proponent of traditional Piedmontese wine, Luciano works almost exclusively with indigenous grape varietals and prefers to avoid using modern techniques, relying instead on the history of family domaine and the teachings of his father to guide his hand. That said, Luciano's vision avoids dogma, borrowing freely from the arsenal of both modernity and antiquity to create the best wine possible. As Luciano puts it, "even though I prefer to work in a traditional way, I won't discard a modern technique that can improve the quality of our wines and protect our environment."
Today, Montaribaldi has 23.5 hectares of vineyards scattered across the different terroirs of the Piedmont, all linked to the winery by the Montaribaldi road. Just like his father before him, Luciano's goal is to make terroir-driven wines that reflect the unique qualities of these vineyards. Luciano works to nurture his vision by aggressively controlling yields, avoiding pesticides and herbicides, and planting cover crops to foster biodiversity. Replanting only when absolutely necessary, and then only with local heirloom clones, the average vine age of the domaine is nearing fifty years.
The vision of the domaine reflects the mantra of "place over process" and the winemaking is done in such a way as to bring this to fruition: each parcel is vinified and bottled as a single cuvee to highlight the typicity of the terroir and varietal. Native yeast is used whenever possible, and sulfur, new oak, and other additions are kept to a bare minimum.
Yielding a dry and subtly scented wine, Arneis is the star white grape of Piedmont. Though the grape has been local to Roero since the 1400s, it didn’t experience real popularity until the 1980s when local demand for white wine exploded. Somm Secret—A few key Roero producers are also focusing on exploring the ageability of high quality Arneis. It is only grown outside of Piedmont to a very limited extent.
Even to this day, the Roero folklore lives on about witchcraft lurking behind its dramatic contours and obscure woods—but these stories only add to the region’s allure and charm. Actually today Roero winemakers are some of the most astute and motivated in Piedmont. While the white Arneis has attracted global attention for some time, now Roero Nebbiolo wines (elevated to the same DOCG status as Barolo and Barbaresco) are making a name for themselves. Keep an eye on any labeled with the vineyard, Valmaggiore, as Barolo producers have been investing here for years. If you’re looking for hidden gems, this is your region!