Montecarlo DOC dates to 1969. It covers still wines from part of the administrative territory of the Municipalities of Montecarlo, Altopascio, Capannori and Porcari in Lucca province in Alta Toscana or Upper Tuscany.

Terroir: The defined geographical area is characterized by a large hilly morphological and geological unit bounded to the South – West by the plain of Lucca and the bed of the former lake of Bientina, to the north-east of the Pizzorne massif and the Pescia plain. From a geomorphological point of view, most of the territory is represented by hilly reliefs of modest entity, with average altimetric altitudes which, for almost 70% of the entire surface has a value between 25.00 and 75.00 metres above sea level.

In general, the morphological trend of the hilly area is characterized by a mostly gentle morphology; in fact, one passes by the maximum altimetric altitudes located along the ridge of the Historic Center – Monte Chiari (remember that the maximum altitude reached is approximately 190.00 metres above sea level, located near the Monte Chiari locality) arranged north north-east – south south-east, at decidedly flat areas, consisting, to the south, of the Holocene floods deposited in the valleys of the Tazzera, San Gallo and Tassinara rivers, which flow into the wide plain of Lucca to the south with altitudes ranging from 13.00 metres above sea level. of the Rio Tazzera to 20.00 metres above sea level of the San Gallo and Tassinara rivers, and to the north-east, from the wide plain made up of alluvial deposits deposited by the Pescia di Collodi River, with average altimetric altitudes ranging from 40.00 ÷ 45.00 metres above sea level, in the North, to about 20.00 metres above sea level at the southern end of the territory.

Altitude: The altitude of the land planted with vines is between 20 and 190 metres above sea level with variable slopes. In general exposure is east and south-east oriented.

Soil: The soils have surface horizons dark in colour due to the enrichment in organic matter; this characteristic indicates favorable properties, such as a good level of agricultural fertility and biological activity. In Montecarlo the soil is rich in potassium (Gino Fuso Carmignani).

Climate: The climate of the region falls within the area of ​​influence of the temperate Mediterranean climate; the temperature trend is characterized by strong excursions, with hot summers and moderately cold winters. The seasonal distribution of the rains has typically Mediterranean characteristics, concentrating for about 60% in the autumn-winter period.

History: Evidence of the activity in the wine sector relating to the Montecarlo area is very ancient: for the area of ​​S. Piero in Campo, in a document of the year 846 AD, there is talk of level income in nature, also consisting of “pure wine, of grapes pressed three times according to the rules, and then drawn off”. In the following centuries, especially at the end of the Middle Ages, the production of wine increased, thanks to the frequent deforestation and reclamation that took place in the surroundings of today’s town, some of which are still preserved in the thirteenth-century parchments of the Abbey of Pozzeveri, which speak among the another of the sunniest terrains on the south-eastern side of the hill of Montecarlo, known as the Coste di Vivinaia, a town that preceded Montecarlo on the watershed of the hill. The history of the village is inextricably intertwined with that of its wine; a destiny that is found in the meaning of its ancient name Vivinaia, that is the passage of the Via del Vino, which crossed the whole hill of Montecarlo.

The existence of this road, which had considerable importance until the late Middle Ages, is significant due to the fact that the pre-eminent characteristic of this territory were the vineyards, and the production of its wine was remarkable and valuable. At that time, as in the whole of the West, the influence that religious orders exercised on the production of wine was great; testimony of this was the Benedictine Monastery founded in 1200 in San Martino in Colle, which contributed to confer those characteristics which in the age of the free Municipalities were recognized to the wine of Montecarlo: “clear, vermilion, pure and frank”. In 1371 the first names of the tavern keeper appear who seal barrels of Trebbiano wine and wagons of red wine to be sold by the minute, or rather in the taverns of the town, paying an average of eight sous for half a quarter. The gabelle was a sort of duty that was paid to particular officers of Lucca at the time of entry inside the walls, for some goods of greater consumption.

Montecarlo wine throughout the fourteenth century. It was marketed in Altopascio (which was then a small village in the Municipality of Montecarlo) and through the lake of Bientina towards Pisa, of course in Lucca and, under the Florentine dominion, also in Florence. Documents relate that until 1567 the village community offered various flasks of Trebbiano to Duke Cosimo I De Medici, at whose court “the bunches of grapes of Montecarlo and the Trebbiano of that community cheered the diners”. The passionate work of Prof. Federico Melis was able to demonstrate that precisely between 1400 and 1500 the white wine of Montecarlo reached, in the negotiations on the Florence market, prices higher than any other wine. But the wines of Montecarlo also reached another important court of Christianity, that of the Popes. In 1408 Pope Gregory XII was kidnapped by the excellent local wine, tasting it for lunch during a visit to Lucca, and from that moment on he ordered that the papal kitchens procure it to prepare the papal canteens. The custom that the small town had of honoring the characters of the Medici family with its most precious product, continued in the following century, when every year twenty flasks of Trebbiano from the “Community of Montecarlo” were ordered for the feast of the glorious San Giovanni Battista (6 June 1626).

Another great event was the presence of Montecarlo wines on the table of the royal wedding of Prince Umberto of Savoy and Maria Josè, at the Quirinale in 1930. At that time the wines of the Marchi Magnani Farm and other producers, Fattoria Pucci, Carrara, Pardocchi, De Dominicis, obtained numerous awards in Italy and abroad. The wine was then known by all as “Lo Chablis di Montecarlo”. To further improve his wines, an enlightened and passionate Montecarlean winemaker, Giulio Magnani, at that time owner of the Fattoria Marchi Magnani (now Mazzini), around 1870, left for France to study the vines and winemaking techniques of our cousins ​​from beyond the Alps who at that time already produced wines that were appreciated even outside their borders.

He then went to the Bordeaux area and from those places he brought Sauvignon, Semillon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon to Montecarlo. Furthermore, he brought back the Roussanne and Syrah from the Rhone area and the Pinot bianco and grigio from Burgundy. Back home, he experimented with the right percentages of vines to add to Trebbiano in order to produce a more elegant, smooth and fragrant wine. Precisely these vines, included in the Montecarlo DOC wine specification, have profoundly characterized the absolute singularity of these wines, which boast over a century of very happy acclimatization and harmonious roots in the territory of Montecarlo, Altopascio, Capannori and Porcari, the four countries that form the terroir of Montecarlo wines. In this way, a harmonious blend has been created between native wines and the so-called ameliorative vines of French origin, according to the trends and guidelines of the most innovative Italian and Tuscan viticultural science.

Production zone: The production area of ​​the grapes destined for the production of “Montecarlo” Denomination of Controlled Origin wines includes, in the province of Lucca, part of the administrative territories of following  municipalities of: Altopascio. | Capannori. | Montecarlo. | Porcari.

Terroir: The hilly orography of the production area and the prevailing exposure of the vineyards, oriented to the South-Southeast, and located in areas particularly suited to the cultivation of vines, combine to determine an adequately ventilated, bright environment, favorable to the fulfillment of all vegetoproductive functions of the plant. In the choice of production areas, soils with good exposure suitable for quality viticulture are favored. The millenary winemaking history of the area from its origin to the present day, attested by numerous documents, is the fundamental proof of the close connection and interaction existing between human factors and the quality and peculiar characteristics of “Montecarlo” wine.

Wine grapes: Abrusco (r). | Albana Bianco (w). | Albarola (w). | Alicante (r). | Ancellotta (r). | Ansonica (w). | Alicante Bouschet (r). | Barbera (r). | Barsaglina (r). | Biancone (w). | Bonamico (r). | Bracciola Nera (r). | Buriano (w). | Cabernet Franc (r). | Cabernet Sauvignon (r). | Calabrese Nera (r). | Caloria (R). | Canaiolo Bianco (w). | Canaiolo Nero (R). | Canina Nera (r). | Carignano (r). | Carmenere (r). | Cesanese d’Affile (r). | Chardonnay (w). | Ciliegiolo (r). | Clairette Blanc (w). | Colombana Nera (r). | Colorino (r). | Colorino del Valdarno (r). | Durella (w). | Fiano (w). | Foglia Tonda (r). | Gamay (R). | Greco (w). | Grechetto (w). | Groppello di S. Stefano (r). | Groppello Gentile (r). | Incrocio Bruni 54 (w). | Lambrusco Maestri (r). | Livornese Bianca (w). | Malbech (r). | Malvasia (r). | Malvasia Bianca di Candia (w). | Malvasia Istriana (w). | Malvasia Nera di Brindisi (r). | Malvasia Nera di Lecce (r). | Mammolo (r). | Manzoni Bianco (w). | Marsanne (w). | Mazzese Nera (r). | Merlot (r). | Montepulciano (r). | Muller-Thurgau (w). | Orpicchio (w). | Petit Manseng (w). | Petit Verdot (r). | Pinot Bianco (w). | Pinot Grigio (w). | Pinot Nero (r). | Pollera Nera (R). | Prugnolo Gentile (r). | Pugnitello (r). | Rebo (r). | Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso (r). | Riesling (w). | Riesling Italico (w). | Roussane (r). | Sagrantino (r). | Sanforte (r). | Sangiovese (r). | Schiava Gentile (r). | Sémillon (w). | Syrah (r). | Tempranillo (r). | Teroldego (r). | Trebbiano Toscano (w). | Verdea Bianco (w). | Verdello (w). | Verdicchio Bianco (w). | Vermentino Blanc (w). | Vermentino Nero (r). | Vernaccia di S. Gimigiano (w). Viognier (w).

Wines

Montecarlo DOC Bianco: 40-60% Trebbiano Toscano, and 40-60% Roussanne, Semillon, Pinot Gris, Pinot Bianco, Vermentino, Sauvignon Blanc, with at least three of the latter comprising 10% each (Montecarlo DOC Disciplinare 1994).

Montecarlo DOC Rosso: From 50-75% Sangiovese, 5-15% Canaiolo Nero and 10-15% (alone or combined) Ciliegiolo, Colorino, Malvasia nera, Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, plus up to 20% white grapes (Montecarlo DOC Disciplinare 1994).

Montecarlo DOC Rosso Riserva: 24 months minimum ageing of which a minimum of six in bottle.

Montecarlo DOC Merlot:

Montecarlo DOC Sauvignon:

Montecarlo DOC Cabernet Sauvignon:

Montecarlo DOC Syrah:

Montecarlo DOC Vermentino:

Montecarlo DOC Vin Santo: 30-60%; Semillon, Pinot grigio, Pinot bianco, Vermentino, Sauvignon and Roussanne present in at least three grape varieties in the ratio of 40-70%; Grapes from white grape varieties present in the list of vine varieties admitted for the production of wine grapes in the Tuscany Region can contribute alone or jointly, up to a maximum of 20% with the exclusion of aromatic grape varieties: Moscato bianco, Traminer aromatico.

Montecarlo DOC Vin Santo Occhio di Pernice:

Wineries

Buonamico. | Fattoria del Teso. | Fattoria di Montechiari. | Fattoria Wandanna. | Gino Fuso Carmignani.

Bibliography

Disciplinare di produzione della Denominazione di Origine controllata dei vini Montecarlo.