Asolo Montello: Toasting 40 years of the poets’ playground

An event called ‘Elevate your Choice: Wine, beauty and territory’ will celebrate 40 years of the region's wine producers’ consortium on 12 October at Villa Barbaro in Maser, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

(Image credit: An event called ‘Elevate your Choice: Wine, beauty and territory’ will celebrate 40 years of the region's wine producers’ consortium on 12 October at Villa Barbaro in Maser, a UNESCO World Heritage Site)

Wander through the streets of the historic town of Asolo, in northeast Italy’s Veneto region, and it’s easy to see why Italian poet Giosuè Carducci dubbed it ‘the city of a hundred horizons’. For over a hundred years, the city’s vistas have captured the imaginations of artists from actress Eleonora Duse and sculptor Antonio Canova to expatriate writers including Ernest Hemingway, Robert Browning and Henry James.

Asolo is nicknamed ‘the city of a hundred horizons’.

Those views stretch across thousands of hectares of countryside, including the region’s famous vineyards. Since 1985, the Consorzio Vini Asolo Montello has worked to protect, promote and enhance the region’s wines. In addition, the Consorzio has brought winemakers together with restaurateurs, farmers and their local communities, further encouraging visitors to discover Asolo’s cultural and gastronomic heritage firsthand.

That link between wine and culture will be celebrated on 12 October, when the consortium welcomes the public to a major event at Villa Barbaro, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the town of Maser designed by Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio. At the event, titled ‘Elevate your Choice: Wine, beauty and territory’, stories and discussions will fill the air as locals and visitors taste wines together and celebrate one of Italy’s most exciting wine regions.

In Consorzio Asolo Montello vineyards account for only 7%of the production area — Vineyards account for only 7% of the production area.

Blending bubbles with biodiversity

Guests will enjoy glasses of the region’s flagship sparkling wine, Asolo Prosecco Superiore DOCG, which has earnt an international reputation for its elegance, finesse and deep connection to its terroir. Drier and more structured than other types, Asolo Prosecco DOCG offers notes of white flowers, pear, green apple and citrus, underpinned by mineral characteristics from the calcareous soils of the Asolani hills and the clay-rich Montello slopes.

Asolo Prosecco Superiore DOCG was the first Prosecco denomination to produce the ultra-dry Extra Brut style, highlighting the wine’s versatility as an aperitif or paired with food. Glera is the backbone of Asolo Prosecco DOCG, while other traditional native varieties – chiefly Bianchetta Trevigiana, Perera and Glera Lunga – also play a role in many blends.

Those grapes are grown across 2,271ha of vineyards spread between the Adriatic Sea and the Dolomites, west of the river Piave. Yet vineyards account for only 7% of the production area, leaving plenty of room for biodiversity, with forests covering 30% of the area and apples, cherries and olives growing in between.

The production area in Consorzio Asolo Montello is home to forests, orchards and olive groves as well as vineyards, preserving its biodiversity. — The production area is home to forests, orchards and olive groves as well as vineyards, preserving its biodiversity.

Recantina’s red wine renaissance

Asolo is also home to characterful red wines made under the Montello DOCG and Montello Asolo DOC denominations. The region was among the first in Italy to produce Bordeaux blends, with its temperate climate making it an ideal home for the Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Carmenère and Merlot grapes used for Montello DOCG wines.

Today, local producers are also championing Recantina, one of the area’s native black grapes, which yields red wines with deep colours, spicy, floral aromas and vibrant acidity. Recantina is already making a name for itself among sommeliers and wine lovers on the hunt for small-production wines and characterful, indigenous grapes, with the Montello Asolo DOC offering producers the freedom to bottle red and white still wines from international and local varieties.

With production from the consortium’s 475 members – growers, winemakers and bottlers – rising by 18% year-on-year to more than 32.4 million bottles in 2024, it’s clear that the world loves its wines. After October’s ‘Elevate your Choice’ event and the other birthday celebrations, Asolo and Montello’s popularity is sure to increase as more wine lovers discover one of Italy’s most exciting regions.