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Region: Italy - Pidemont
Grapes: Nebbiolo
Alcohol: 13%
Notes on the Wine
A fine and elegant wine with subtle tannins, bright cherry flavors and a persistent finish that again emphasizes the complex mineral composition of the underlying soils.
Notes on the Producer
Many years ago, in the late 1970s, I remember drinking bottles of Monsecco Gattinara from the 1960s and early 1970s (most particularly the 1971 and 1974) with extreme glee.Powerful yet graceful wines that shone a bright light on another corner of the world of Nebbiolo, a fitting companion to the Barolos from Brovia, the Barbarescos from De Forville and the Caremas from Ferrando.Then, all of a sudden the wines of Monsecco disappeared from view.The Monsecco estate was history!So, I was pleased when I spoke with Giorgio Zanetta, whose family has a long history of producing wine in the Alto Piemonte, to hear that it was the family’s objective to revive the royal name of Monsecco.
For many decades, Lorenzo Zanetta, grandfather to Giorgio, had worked as a negociant in the wine trade, specializing in producing wines from the neighboring zones of “Coste delle Sesia” and “Colline Novaresi” in the area known as the Alto Piemonte.His sons, Sergio (father to Giorgio) and Valter, decided, in 1993, to revive the name and image of Monsecco, dedicating themselves to the task of producing the finest versions of the local wines using only local grape varieties.To that end and over time, they purchased five hectares of vineyards and currently rent an additional three hectares where only Nebbiolo, Vespolina, Uva Rara and Croatina are planted. From these assorted sites, they craft in the most traditional manner a series of wines culminating in their formidable standard-bearer: the grand Gattinara.
There is almost a religious reverence in the Alto Piemonte for Monte Rosa, the mountain that hovers over the region, the grand eminence that protects and nurtures the region.It is visible from all points whether one is in Gattinara or Sizzano or Ghemme, an eternally white-topped mountain whose melting snows form the Sesia river that splits Gattinara from Ghemme.The soils of these hills are marked by the mineral salts and the glacial moraine from millennia of geological movement.Further, sitting in the foothills of this part of the Alps and neighboring the great lakes of Orta and Maggiore, the vines are exposed to large variations in temperature, warm days married to cool nights: an ideal ambience for the noble Nebbiolo and the other local varieties, all of which benefit from the long growing season to reach proper ripeness while maintaining a lively acidity.
