MONTALBERA

The Ruchè by Montalbera, the other face of Piedmont

Montalbera winery is a beautiful and modern reality located between Langhe and Monferrato. Morando family is in fact the owner of two estates: the main one is located in Monferrato, in particular in the center between the towns of Grana, Castagnole Monferrato and Montemagno.

It has about 100 hectares (about 100 acres) of vineyards located in a single large plot, distributed in 6 hills, where are mainly cultivated Ruchè and other local grapes such as Barbera and Grignolino, together with the latest investment on the white berried grape of French origin Viogner, to which the terroir of Monferrato seems to give interesting characteristics of sapidity and minerality.

The second estate is located in the Langhe area, in particular in Castignole Tinella, the hometown of the founder Enrico Riccardo Morando, where Chardonnay and Moscato d'Asti are cultivated. The winery plays a fundamental role in the rediscovery and promotion of this vine: Ruchè was in fact an almost forgotten grape until, in the 1970s, the parish priest of Castagnole Monferrato, Don Giacomo Cauda, received a dozen rows of vines as a benefice of the parish and was struck by the wine he tried to produce. He defined it as "the wine of the feast" for its great pleasantness and ease of drinking.

In fact, Ruchè, characterized by a great aromaticity and a warm and embracing taste with low acidity and tannins, is certainly different from the other typical wines of the region, therefore it is also defined as "the other face of Piedmont". After having tasted Ruchè during a dinner, Morando decides to invest on this vine: in the 1980's he acquires the estate in Castagnole Monferrato and thanks to the collaboration with Don Giacomo Cauda and the mayor of Castagnole at that time, Lidia Bianco, he launches this project of rediscovery of Ruchè, a wine which obtains the DOC in 1987 and the DOCG in 2010. Currently, Montalbera produces about 60% of the entire denomination, and is engaged in a constant study and experimentation both in the vineyard and in the cellar to work on the concept of "wine-fruit", for which we try to obtain a wine that can enhance all the characteristics of the grape variety of origin.