Sonoma County

Medium

Cork

This is drop-dead gorgeous. I can’t believe how great this wine is for a debut release—it’s vibrant, explosive, and utterly compelling. It comes from the Los Niños Block, planted in 1940 by Louis M. Martini. The wine was fermented in a one-ton wooden tank, with just three barrels made in 2023. Yields are tiny, around 1.5 tonnes per hectare, with harvest stretching into very late October and even November. Two barrels were new, one neutral. Native-yeast fermented and aged for 16 months. The aromatics are intensely perfumed, and that perfume carries straight through to the tannins, which are firm yet supple, supporting a generous mid-palate weight. There’s a striking black olive and savoury, meaty richness here, framed by fine-grained, apple-skin tannins that are gorgeously textured and dialled up to eleven on mineral tension. Saline-driven acidity keeps everything vivid and totally delicious. This is a phenomenal wine. The new Monte Rosso brand, debuting with the 2023 vintage, is produced by Bernardino Sani, CEO and winemaker of the historic Argiano estate in Montalcino, Italy. Sani had long been eager to undertake a project in the United States. Diego Del Pino, the estate director, was brought in to build out luxury sales with Gallo and brings a strong background in high-end luxury products. Through Gallo’s import portfolio, Del Pino came to know Sani, and when given the opportunity to develop something distinctive and new within the Gallo universe, he chose to focus on Monte Rosso. The vineyard was originally developed by the Goldstein family before being purchased by the Martini family in 1938, who renamed it Monte Rosso. This 2023 release marks the first vintage of Monte Rosso wines produced as a standalone brand from this iconic site, with total production currently around 800 cases. Perched high above Sonoma Valley, Monte Rosso Vineyard is defined by iron-rich red volcanic soils and fractured rhyolite at elevation, delivering some of California’s most powerful yet distinctly mineral-driven mountain fruit.

Cabernet Sauvignon

Monte Rosso Estate, Los Niños, Sonoma County, Moon Mountain District, California, USA, 2023

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This is drop-dead gorgeous. I can’t believe how great this wine is for a debut release—it’s vibrant, explosive, and utterly comp

Monte Rosso Estate, Los Niños, Moon Mountain, Sonoma County, California, USA 2023

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