Producer: Mongarda
Region: Veneto, Italy
Grape Varieties: 90% Glera, 10% Perena, Bianchetta
Viticulture: Organic
Category: Sparkling, White
Size: 750ml
Mongarda has 5 hectares of woods and 12.5 hectares of vines, spread between the villages of Col San Martino, Farra di Soligo, Miane, and Valdobbiadene. This is the heart of the Valdobbiadene-Conegliano Prosecco Superiore zone. Mongarda’s vineyards are on extreme slopes with old vines and poor, rocky soils, a situation which forces them to be worked manually. The main variety is, of course, Glera, but the Tormena family has also kept the local heirlooms of Perera, Verdiso, Bianchetta, and Boschera, which are interspersed through the parcels and co-harvested and co-fermented with the Glera.
The vines, some dating back to 1950, are pampered: no weedkillers (undesired plants are mowed or removed by hand) and no synthetic fertilizers (instead, a biodynamic compost of grape skins, vine cuttings, and manure from grass-fed cows is made in-house). While Martino has set organic certification as a goal, he is also concerned with elevated use of copper, whose toxicity is perhaps the ‘elephant’ in the organic viticulture room, especially in wet, cool, climates. He includes natural extracts from stingle nettles and horsetail.
The vines are divided into six gorgeous plots, with this bottle sourced entirely from the old vines of the Sun Gallo vineyard and it's clay, calcareous rock, and iron soils. Honeysuckle and green apple on the nose, with an energetic palate of wild flowers, ripe fruit, and orchard pear.
