Il Mongetto di Carlo Santopietro

Located in the Monferrato Casalese comune of Vignale Monferrato, NE of Asti, the family cantina of Carlo Santopietro takes their name from the single vyd Il Mongetto that lies in the frazione of the same name. The vineyard sits on a block of marne sant’agata fossili, rich with limo (54%), argilla calcareo (31%), & sabbia (15%), with an alkaline pH of 8.0; detto ‘franco limoso agrilloso’, it appears to be the perfect environment for growing Grignolino. The cantina is also famous for their old vine Barbera, grown on the single site Guera. Plus they have a small plot of Malvasia di Casorza, a red grape.

Bottling began in 1979, with Carlo Santopietro joining the family business in 1982. They have 10ha of vines, divided up between four vyds in the comune of Vignale Monferrato: Il Mongetto, Rudifra’, Guera, & Solin. Vinification takes place in cimento, using selected yeasts for security, the Grignolino skins being racked off after a week, along with the infamous vinaccioli, with fermentation completed without, while the Barbera is affinato in barriques, some new.

Carlo looks for full phenolic maturity in all his fruit, not least Grignolino with its plentiful ‘grignole‘ (seeds), facilitated by the calcareo soils, & assisted by low pH (minerally) must. Since 2007, working alongside Carlo is the talented enologo, Dott. Umberto Lucano. They make circa 6k bts/anno of Grignolino del Monferrato Casalese, closed with sughero & DIAM; however in 2023 the Grignolino harvested was destroyed by hail. Carlo also makes a tiny quantity of metodo classico from Grignolino vinificato in bianco, which enjoys 26 mesi on its fine lies prior to release.