Tenuta Monolo Bramaterra Riserva

Anyone know anything about these wines? The Rare Wine offer is intriguing, but a full case minimum.

Hi Neal
Apparently it’s a renaming of ‘La Ronda’, though I haven’t come across them either! Antoniotti I know and I’ve seen but not tasted Colombera & Garella. Not many producers in the region.
regards
Ian

Since this question was never answered, except tentatively by Ian, here is an excerpt from the story as per Lyle Fass:

The estate of Tenuta Monolo no longer produces wines and never sold wine when they were producing wine.

The Fascinating Story of Umberto Gilodi

Umberto Gilodi was an impresario of a man and had many interests. The Tenuta Monolo used to be part of a villa that contained endless volumes of books on philosophy, tons of manuscripts and classical music with an emphasis on Baroque and Renaissance music. The villa was surrounded by a vineyard that was three quarters of a hectare. Umberto Gilodi, the eccentric/impresario lived there with his life long friend, Orlando Cremonini who also was the cellarmaster, painter and an engraver. They lived a simple life similar to Louis Sozet in Cornas.

The farming at the estate was all organic and there are documents that attest to this. No herbicides or pesticides were ever used which is before organic was even a word or a thing. The wines are fermented in large wooden botti and fermented with native yeasts. The vineyards were planted with 60% Nebbiolo, 20% Croatina, 10% Vespolina and 10% Uva Rara. Umberto was so passionate about the wines and the area that he was the driving force behind creating the Bramaterra appellation which was finalized in 1979. He was affectionately referred to as the “Padre Di Bramaterra.”

The reason Umberto decided to not sell the wines was because since he was the driving force behind creating the appellation, he thought it would be a conflict of interest with the other producers in the area.

The wines as I learned vary wildly from vintage to vintage and are as old school as it gets.

The wines sound great, and I always love to read a story about life-long friends.

1 Like

Just one word of caution - I bought two older bottles from this producer from Lyle. One was badly corked and the other the other was dead. Bummer since they sounded great!

1 Like

I had a 1991 Tenuta Monolo a few years ago and it was quite nice although starting to show a little advancement (may be the bottle since only had it once). Also had a couple bottles of 2015 Colombera & Garella Bramaterra Cascina Cottignano that I liked, although bit rustic and young.

-Al

1 Like

I’ve had a couple of these library releases. Great story. The wines themselves were, to cut a long story short, OK, but not particularly exciting.

1 Like