Montù

Montù is the Emilian white that did not disappear. At roughly a thousand hectares nationally and six hundred in the province of Bologna alone, it is far more common than its obscurity suggests, and unlike most of the varieties in this atlas it is in no danger at all. It survives for a thoroughly unromantic reason: it works in flat vineyards that machines can harvest cheaply.

Origins and names Also called Montuni, Montù has always grown on the plains of Emilia-Romagna, where it was known as Bianchino or Bianchetto because its wines were so pale. Montoncello is a rarer old synonym, from a time when it was wrongly believed identical to Montonico Bianco. Cavazza recorded in 1904 that the Marchese Bevilacqua derived the name from the dialect molt’ ù, meaning plenty of grapes.

A tangled record Cavazza described a Montenego variety identical to today’s Montù, which may in turn have been the Montonego Bianco that Acerbi described in 1825. The Bianchino name causes its own trouble: several Bianchino grapes grow in Romagna and they are not all the same, so there is most likely a genuinely distinct Bianchino variety in addition to Montù.

In the vineyard Montù is recognisable by long, cylindrical, compact medium bunches and medium-small round yellow-green berries covered in bloom and brown dots. It is broadly disease-resistant, strongly so to oidium and less so to botrytis bunch rot, grows easily, ripens in early October and does best on clay-calcareous soils. One official clone is available, CAB 14.

Why it was abandoned, and why it was not. Researchers have hypothesised that Montù fell out of favour simply because it is much less productive than most Trebbianos, which in the Emilian plain was the only measure that counted. What saved it is the flip side of the same logic: it performs well in flatland vineyards suited to cost-effective mechanical harvesting. A native that pays its way does not vanish.

Where it grows It is characteristic of the Emilia half of Emilia-Romagna, especially the flatlands along the Reno north of Bologna up to Pieve di Cento. It was once common in Romagna too, where the Bianchino name dominates, but today it is hard to find past Ravenna. The concentration around Bologna is what the acreage figures reflect.

Appearance and structure The wines are very light-bodied and high in acid, which is the defining characteristic and the reason for the grape’s principal use. This is not a white with texture or weight, and nobody has ever claimed otherwise. Its virtue is a clean, bracing line.

Aromatic profile Fresh flowers and unripe citrus fruit make up the aromatic register, both of them sharp rather than ripe. The paleness that earned it the Bianchino name is matched by an equally pale flavour profile. In sparkling form that neutrality becomes an asset rather than a limitation.

In the cellar The high acidity means Montù is mainly used for sparkling wine, and the frizzante versions are what most people who drink it actually encounter. The DOC is Reno Montuni, requiring a minimum 85 per cent though monovarietal wines exist, and the best still wines are usually found in the Castelfranco dell’Emilia, Ravenna, Forlì and Rubicone IGTs.

Key expressions

• Reno Montuni DOC, the variety’s own appellation.
• Frizzante versions, the most common and most convincing style.
• Still IGT wines from Castelfranco dell’Emilia and Rubicone.
• Monovarietal bottlings, permitted above the 85 per cent minimum.

The question of aging None whatsoever. Montù is a wine for the months after bottling, and the sparkling versions in particular should be drunk young while the acidity is bracing and the citrus sharp. It has no extract to develop on and the floral note goes first. This is not a shortcoming; it is the design.

At the table It is built for Emilian food and especially for its fat: mortadella, prosciutto, tigelle, fried dough and parmigiano, where the acidity and bubble cut cleanly. It is an everyday wine in the most literal sense. Serve it cold, around eight degrees.

Why it matters Montù is the counter-example to almost every other entry in this atlas. It is obscure without being endangered, kept in the ground by mechanisation and low costs rather than by passionate growers or rescue projects. It makes no great wine and never will. But it demonstrates that a native variety can survive on ordinary commercial merit, which is a more durable form of security than enthusiasm.