- Region: Lombardia
- Typology: Red Wine
- Grapes: 60% Marzemino, 40% Barbera
- Aging: minimum 6-8 months in the bottle.
- Organoleptic characteristics: ruby red color with purple hues. The nose offers aromas of crunchy red fruit, in which cherry and plum stand out, with elegant hints of dried rose to make it even more intriguing. On the palate it is pleasantly slender, supported by pleasant freshness and well-balanced alcoholic heat, referring to the juicy and crunchy fruit, revealing a fresh and persistent finish. The very fine tannic texture makes the sip captivating and invites to re-taste.
- Pairings: pasta with meat sauces, lasagna with meat sauce, cut of beef, fine salami and medium-aged cheeses. Try it with Brescia-style snails.
Montonale was born from an ancient family farming tradition that blossomed on the hills of Desenzano del Garda. Here, in the early twentieth century, Francesco Girelli plowed two hectares of land in the Conta area. He planted Turbiana di Lugana, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot: it is said that the scent of Lugana must was so intense that it attracted the neighborhood. His son, Aldo continued in his father’s footsteps and bought six hectares of vineyards planted in Turbiana, Barbera and Marzemino.
Ambassador of the territory of yesteryear, he gave wine to customers along the Alps, spreading the name of Lugana. After him Luciano, who put the experience of his ancestors to good use and bought another 60 hectares of vineyards partially planted in Turbiana by the noble Bertani. Hereditary divisions, however, inhibited his dream as a winemaker. The vineyard was almost totally explanted, in 1998 the last sad harvest.
Roberto Girelli, with his brothers Claudio and Valentino, has breathed the scents of the cellar since he was a child. In 2002, just twenty years old, his first harvest follows. The following year he presented 800 bottles with the Girelli brand, sold to family friends and enrolled in the Faculty of Viticulture and Oenology in Verona. The first Lugana comes with the 2004 harvest, in 2005 the family plants another five hectares of vineyards in Turbiana and other red grape varieties.
The Montonale vineyards extend for thirty hectares around the cellar, on a clayey soil, rich in skeleton and limestone that gives the grapes great potential in minerality, finesse and aromaticity, essential for obtaining wines of extreme elegance. The right soil was selected for each variety. The rows are north-south oriented and trained on the arch-modified Guyot system, with 6/8 buds.
The cellar is built with rice straw walls, a breathable material that guarantees a healthy microclimate. A 96kW photovoltaic system is installed on the roof, which ensures complete energy autonomy and drastically reduces carbon dioxide emissions.