Asolo Montello / Montello Asolo DOC

The Montello and the Asolo hills, north-west of Treviso, registered as Montello — Colli Asolani. It is Prosecco country in every direction, and this denomination is what the same ground makes when it is not making Prosecco.

The Terroir The registered file is unusually attentive to mechanism. Sun exposure, protection from winds and mild autumns generate soft and aristocratic wines; the soils help a rich phenolic and aromatic composition with herbaceous and ripe-fruit scents and a balanced sugar-to-acid ratio. Then the part that matters: summers that are not too hot avoid early ripening in the whites, while the thermal excursions generate citrus and floral compounds exalted by the right acidity. And the drainage — the hills and the loose soils of the plains drain excess rain, giving the vines a balanced vigour that maintains acidity and aromas.

Two Native Grapes The file closes by naming what makes the range its own: the native varieties Bianchetta and Recantina give originality to the range of wines. Bianchetta Trevigiana is the older white of the Trevigiano, largely displaced by Glera and kept alive by a handful of growers; Recantina is a red that was effectively extinct by the 1980s, recovered from surviving vines in the 2000s, and is now bottled by a small group here. Neither is grown in quantity anywhere else.

Grape Varieties Besides those two: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Carmenère among the reds; Chardonnay, Pinot Bianco, Pinot Grigio and Manzoni Bianco among the whites, with Glera permitted. Quality sparkling wines are registered alongside the still ones.

The Critical Take The Montello is a conglomerate hill riddled with caves, and it makes better red wine than the Veneto is given credit for — the Bordeaux blends from the older estates here have been serious since the 1960s, well before anyone used the phrase Super Tuscan, and they age. The problem is arithmetic: Prosecco pays more per hectare than a fifteen-year Cabernet ever will, and the denomination has been losing ground to Glera for two decades. The natives are the argument for keeping it.

Asolo The town is one of the loveliest in the Veneto, held by Caterina Cornaro after Venice relieved her of Cyprus, and later home to Browning and Freya Stark. Carducci called it la città dai cento orizzonti. The vineyards are the working slope below all that.

At the Table Trevigiano cooking: sopa coada, radicchio from Treviso, roast goose, casatella, and grilled meats. Reds at 16–17°C, whites at 10–12°C.

Benchmark Producers Serafini & Vidotto, Loredan Gasparini, Case Paolin.