Monteverro: The story of a modern legend

‘I met the Weber family when making wine at [Napa Valley’s] Newton Vineyard,’ explains Jean Hoefliger, now consultant winemaker at Monteverro. ‘When they returned nearly three years later, they brought me an old Bordeaux as a thank-you for hosting them.’

Hoefliger, having worked at Château Lynch-Bages, Château Carbonnieux and South Africa’s prestigious Meerlust estate, known for its iconic Bordeaux-style blends, was one of the first to bring a Bordelais approach to California.

The Webers felt that his deft hand in the cellar shone through in the quality of Newton Vineyard’s Bordeaux-style wines.

Monteverro is born

Georg Weber initially worked in his family’s business, Dehner, a leading German gardening and home store chain. His wife, Julia, studied music in Munich and business law in Augsburg. Meanwhile, the couple’s shared passion for fine wine – especially Bordeaux – had them dreaming of a winery of their own.

In 2003, they found an estate occupying three hills in the Maremma area of Tuscany, five miles from the medieval village of Capalbio and just three miles from the Tyrrhenian Sea.

‘I was deeply convinced of the potential for producing great wines in this area of Tuscany,’ Georg recalls, ‘My dream from the beginning was to create a world-renowned wine and to pioneer winemaking in this part of Tuscany.’

Hoefliger, involved from the start, remembers the Webers’ vision: ‘They wanted to be the Château Latour of Maremma.’

Hoefliger was similarly confident that southern Maremma could produce world-class wine. On his suggestion, Monteverro brought in two more star winemakers: master blender Michel Rolland as a consultant and Hoefliger’s former colleague Matthieu Taunay as resident winemaker.

As well as being inspired by Bordeaux, the Webers also aimed to bring the essence of Rhône winemaking to Tuscany. One of Monteverro’s signature wines, Tinata, is a Rhône-style blend of Syrah and Grenache, and is dedicated to Georg’s mother, Tina, a lover of Rhône wines.

Over 16 vintages, the wines have been finessed to reveal the estate’s distinct character.

Starting with a legacy in mind

The Webers built one of the area’s most technologically advanced wineries, equipped with custom stainless steel fermentation tanks, state-of-the-art temperature controls, gravity-flow techniques and concrete eggs and small barriques for ageing.

The first vines were planted in 2004: Bordeaux and Rhône varieties, to suit the Mediterranean climate and stony, red clay soils. Monteverro’s inaugural vintage followed four years later.

However, the first few vintages were declassified, Hoefliger explains, because they did not meet the team’s high standards: ‘The Webers have created an estate not for instantaneous recognition, but for legacy.’

Today, Monteverro spans 60 hectares, with 38ha under vine, while the remainder supports a vibrant ecosystem of olive trees and Mediterranean flora. The nearby Tyrrhenian Sea brings year-round onshore breezes that temper the warm summer nights.

‘Our organic-certified vineyards thrive in a unique soil composition of red clay and pebbles, providing excellent drainage,’ explains winemaker Matthieu Taunay, while the red clay base retains essential moisture for the vines during hotter months.

Fine-tuning over many vintages has uncovered the estate’s distinct character, which Hoefliger describes as combining herbaceousness and spice from the surrounding forests with ‘iodine or saltiness from the sea.’

Monteverro: The estate’s flagship wine

‘Our terroir is perfectly suited to Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc,’ says Georg. The estate’s flagship wine, Monteverro, combines these grapes with Merlot and Petit Verdot, fermented in small tanks organised by microplot, so that indigenous yeasts can highlight each terroir’s unique character.

‘Our Monteverro blend shows excellent ageing potential, solid structure, balance and freshness, combining all the Mediterranean aromas of the Tuscan coast,’ says Georg, ‘When I taste the 2019 Monteverro, I feel extremely fortunate to have found this terroir.’