Resurrecting Monferace Grignolino in Piedmont

It’s quite rare to see a new wine emerge from such a traditional region as Piedmont, but this summer sees not only the release of the first wine from the Barolo cru of Raviole, but also the first aged Grignolinos labelled as Monferace.

Monferace is the ancient name of the Monferrato region, where an association of ten Piedmontese producers has rediscovered the intriguing concept of ageing the red Grignolino variety, holding it back for at least 40 months, 24 of which are in oak.

Historically, Grignolino was as important as Nebbiolo. In 1861, exhibitions in London and Paris boasted eight-year-old bottles of the variety, but by the end of the 1970s the practice of ageing Grignolino for the long haul had disappeared. According to Mario Ronco, leading winemaker in Monferrato, ‘at that time, nobody wanted to drink old bottles’.

The reason for this was that the countryside was emptying, handed over to the industrial labour force, and everything ascribable to the past was out of trend. Elio Altare bitterly remembers offering Barolo for free while selling his Dolcetto. Grignolino became a commodity wine, worsened by huge yields.

‘Where today we plant 5,000 vines per hectare capable of producing 1.5 kilos of grapes, in the past there were 2,500 vines per hectare with significantly higher yields, but Fiat needed to sell tractors,’ adds Ronco.

Today, the old traditions of maturing Grignolino are beginning to return in a perfect example of post-modern winemaking.

‘There’s an enormous difference between classic Grignolino and Monferace’ says Robin Kick MW, leading the presentation and tasting of the wines for the first time, in Ponzano Monferrato.

The Grignolino variety

Grignolino is just a drop in the bucket considering Italy’s extremely rich biodiversity of indigenous grape varieties. And given the fragmented traditions of Italian winemaking, the bucket becomes even bigger.

Pale ruby in colour, ‘yellow’ with ageing, and more focused on red fruit compared to Nebbiolo, the grape shows great structure due to its rich concentration of tannins. The name Grignolino is said to come from ‘grignole’, or ‘many grape pips’, which are a prominent and robust feature of the varietal, which results in its unique tannic structure.

It’s a late-ripening grape with lower levels of juice, although it’s always harvested before Nebbiolo. When aged, Grignolino shows a thrilling complexity of tar and spice.

Monferace Grignolino

While the average Italian Grignolino appears on the market the year following the vintage, Monferace Grignolino spends at least two more years in oak before it is bottled.

‘Grignolino represents this region more than any other varietal,’ says Guido Alleva, president of the Monferace Association. ‘It’s the indigenous grape for excellence’.

Monferace lies among the villages of Casale, Moncalvo and Vignale, between Asti and Alessandria in the Monferrato district of Piedmont. Geologically, there’s decisive uniformity of calcareous marl. Wines from more clay-enriched soils tend towards a ‘Pommard’ character while those from limestone develop an assertive minerality.

Among these various styles there are different preferences in terms of oak ageing. Several producers have opted for French barriques because of the minimal quantities of wine produced. However, larger, more neutral oak vessels seem to be more balanced and better suited for this elegant wine.

The first vintage of Monferace Grignolino is the 2015.

It will be exciting to see how it develops in bottle, and what the next few vintages bring…

Tasting Monferace Grignolino – First thoughts