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2018 Montenidoli Vernaccia di San Gimignano Carato - Italy, Tuscany, San Gimignano, Vernaccia di San Gimignano (7/31/2023)
Never been a big buyer of Italian whites, but decided to take a flier on a few bottles of this. Very happy I did that. Straight from the cellar it has a richness, not unlike some Southern Rhône whites, but it’s more directly fruity and expressive. Ripe peach, freshly milled wheat flour, and an intriguing smoked sausage aroma made my mouth water, and again recalled the Rhône. The fruit on the palate is very rich, conveying a sense of dripping ripe fruit that is both luscious and of course messy! This is quite impressive.
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Sounds very promising! I’ve had a few Montenidoli whites in the past and always liked them. Planning a visit to the estate later this year, hopefully can make it work.
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I love the Montenidoli Vernaccia wines. The Carato is a richer style that is fermented in barrel and aged in wood and your note describes it well. I prefer the Fiore bottle she makes, it’s free run juice fermented in stainless steel and aged on lees in steel. It’s not as rich as the Carato, but a wonderfully pure and crisp version of Vernaccia and well worth trying if you find a bottle.
Her rosé from 100% Canaiuolo is also a beautiful wine, one of my favorite rosé every year.
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Had a rose this weekend that was totally dialed in from 2021 vintage. Have some more recent Carato vintages in cellar. Is this better with a little bottle age given descriptors above?
Carato is my favorite of the bunch, although in a few vintages Templare has struck me as being on a different level. Still pretty decent values too.
Got turned on to Montenidoli over the past couple of years from Berserker recommendations, and absolutely love the wines. Carato is my favorite for the richer style, but all her wines are delicious (and still well-priced)…
I just had the '19 Carato and '20 Tradition(?) (Green label). I thought the Green label was fantastic, maybe better than the Carato and $15 less, although very different styles. I was expecting the Carato to be the heavier, richer wine, but found the Green-label bottling almost to have a bit of skin-contact/macerated character, ultimately making it both richer and more complex. If this is a skin-contact wine, it’s very well handled as that aspect doesn’t overwhelm the wine or make it seem homogeneous with all the other “orange” wines.
Both were at Costco of all places. In addition, they have a red blend, which I was reluctant to try due to the $55 price tag. If anyone has any thoughts on that one, I’d be curious…
The Green Label sounds a lot like the Idlewild Cortese, where Sam Bilbro does a limited form of skin contact, and makes a more substantial, but not orange wine.