Le Coste di Monforte

Le Coste di Monforte is among the most elevated MGAs in the Barolo zone, occupying south-facing slopes at 360–430 metres in the upper reaches of the Monforte d’Alba commune on Helvetian sandstone and clay soils. It is closely associated with Aldo Conterno, who recognised its potential decades ago and produced single-vineyard wines from this site that have become some of the most sought-after and long-lived Barolos in modern memory.

The altitude of Le Coste di Monforte is the defining variable of its terroir: at these heights, temperatures are cool enough to extend the growing season by two to three weeks compared with the valley-floor vineyards, allowing Nebbiolo to develop extraordinary aromatic complexity while maintaining the high natural acidity that underpins extended aging. The Helvetian soils add mineral intensity, drainage-driven stress, and the concentrated must that produces wine of exceptional depth. In great vintages, Le Coste di Monforte produces Barolo that requires fifteen to twenty-five years of bottle aging to reveal its full potential — wine of dark fruit, iron, tar, dried herbs, and eventually the truffle, leather, and mineral earth of mature Nebbiolo at its most profound. This is Barolo at its most demanding and most rewarding.