Wine: Monte Antico: Monte Antico IGT

Tuscany

Tuscany continues to charm and enchant the world over while books and films are forever trying to capture the beauty and mystic of the region. With its rich history, art, music, food and wine, there is very little to disappoint. Chianti is easily the most well known of Italian wines while Brunello is considered one of the most prestigious. Yet, the wines of Tuscany have not always been recognized for quality and have just recently experienced a renaissance,
after years of being focused on quantity. The initial movement developed in Chianti in the early 1970’s has become a region wide effort that has brought forth serious focus on clonal selection, vineyard management, and winery technologies, allowing a progression in quality unmatched anywhere in the country. The growing success, while focused on the Sangiovese based wines of Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino and most recently, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano,
has spread to the entire region incorporating areas not understood even 30 years ago for their potential.
This phenomena of rapidly improving quality spread to incorporate wines that while not DOC were still considered of superior quality. The lack of an official status could not prevent the unofficial designation “Super Tuscan” from becoming part of the vernacular. As awareness increased, many of these wines achieved their own IGT or DOC status. Ironically, it is often misunderstood that Cabernet and Chardonnay have a long history within Tuscany and were
not introduced to satisfy international demand. Cabernet has been grown for over 250 years and while maybe not known by the Romans it certainly isn’t a newcomer to the region!
(Chardonnay dates back easily 150 years).
Roughly 70% of the production is red but one white wine holds its own in quality. The DOCG for Vernaccia di San Gimagnano was the 1st awarded to ANY wine in Italy. A historical grape documented in the 1200’s, the wines today provide the perfect counterpart to the nobile
reds of Tuscany.

Monte Antico

Monte Antico is a proprietary label of Neil & Maria Empson. Three and a half decades of passion and experience have gone into the Empsons’ tribute to the heartland of Italy. Their unique affinity to this extraordinary region has led them to make their own mark on Tuscan soil: with the Maestro of Italian winemakers, Franco Bernabei, they have styled the Tuscan grape per eccellenza and expressed its ultimate potential, complementing it with minor percentages of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Monte Antico (which, incidentally, means “ancient mountain”) comes from choice hillside vineyards on diverse soils – compact, very fine-textured limestone, at an altitude of 400-450 meters above sea level; the classic, clayey/calcareous, rocky galestro, also at altitudes around 400 meters; and clayey/siliceous/calcareous soil, at an altitude of 250-300 meters: a cross-section of Tuscany’s best.
The finest selections are cherry-picked according to harvest conditions in the individual terroirs and microclimates. This balanced orchestration of geological diversity makes for the wine’s consistent excellence.

The blend, albeit varying slightly depending on vintage conditions, is 85% Sangiovese, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Merlot.
The best selections are blended and aged 1 year in oak (80% in Slavonian barrels, 20% in barrique) and at least 6 months in the bottle, achieving a graceful balance of voluptuous berry tones and flexible yet sturdy backbone.
Dark ruby in color, its bouquet of leather, earth, herbs, black cherries, licorice and plums is confirmed on the medium to full-bodied palate – round, spicy, elegant, attractively fruity and extremely versatile with any fare from pasta or risotto, to meat, fowl and cheese. Moreover, the Empsons’ judicious pricing policy makes it “consistently one of Italy’s better values”.
In other words: food-friendly, pocket-friendly, all-around simpatico.

2006 Monte Antico, 90 points -Wine Spectator “Best Buy” (10/31/2009)

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