“I never thought I would say that I admire Cortese, but the Corteses of Hic et Nunc are something else”. Walter Speller on Monolite Piemonte Doc Cortese.
There can be validations, but there can also be surprises. There are wines that can spark the same emotions every year. But then, there are also those that make you change your mind.
We knew that making Cortese wine in Vignale Monferrato would be a challenge, particularly a cultural one. There has always been a strong bias against this variety, very often associated with hasty and “homemade” vinification processes, something destined for low-profile wines. And this is why Walter Speller’s opinion makes us really happy, as he is considered one of the strictest and most qualified international critics of Italian wine. This proves that the new view of Monferrato, the very foundation of our philosophy, is beginning to make its way, revealing the true expressive potential of these lands. Lands that we have loved since the beginning of our history without compromising, but rather strengthening a passion founded on rigor, respect and the application vinification processes that uphold the fruit’s pure nature.
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MONOLITE PIEMONTE DOC CORTESE 2019
By Walter Speller – published on Jancisrobinson.com
I never thought I would say that I admire Cortese, but the Corteses of Hic et Nunc are something else. Full bodied and waxy with iodine notes and super-linear, they took me by surprise, as did the complexity these wines gain with extended bottle age. One to watch […]
Grapes comes from a vineyard of which the soil consists of white marl. Fermented in stainless steel by selected yeast. 90% of the wine was aged in stainless steel and 10% in 225-litre barriques for at least six months. Straw yellow. Subdued, brooding pear fruit with minerally notes and hints of green walnut and a suggestion of breadcrumbs. Quite full bodied and very different from Gavi, which is stylistically lighter. Lemony fruit that seems almost a little neutral but opens up on the finish. Very linear, taut and long and a little saline. Quite subtle overall, but I expect it to age well.
Postscript.
After 30 minutes in the glass, great purity of fruit with mandarin and bitter grapefruit. Fabulous development.
Voto: 17.5 / 20
