A breath of change in the cellars of San Patrignano
“If pioneering still means anything, in this territory we have worked like perhaps nowhere else, taking on a Bordeaux blend to show a unique identity.”
At San Patrignano there is a breath of change in the air: new adventures, new skills and new expressions of quality. “Good air”, as my grandmother would say. In the San Patrignano winery — founded in 1978 on noble values such as solidarity and mutual support — wine is made with the help of young men and women in difficulty who come to the community looking for help and receive its support.
San Patrignano’s vineyards lie in the hills of Rimini, at an average of 200 metres above sea level and a few kilometres from the Adriatic. This creates a unique microclimate: the salty sea breeze tempers hot summer days and gives every wine a marked mineral note. Mountains and sea together bring excellent day–night temperature swings, enhancing the grapes’ aromas and character. At this latitude, in the southern part of Romagna, the vineyards also enjoy strong light, allowing full and early ripening, so the grapes always reach the right sugar levels at harvest.
Since 2020 Monia Ravaglia has been “refining” her work to bring fresh air to the community’s important San Patrignano wines. From now on it is Monia’s touch we’ll find on our tables: her vision and experience, at the service of the winery since 2020, bringing a modern touch and renewed freshness. Previous experience in Alto Adige and at important Romagna wineries such as Drei Donà makes Monia the ideal person for the revolutionary change San Patrignano is going through.
Today Sadifruttirossi wants to introduce Monia’s “new” Romagna Bordeaux blend. We’re talking about San Patrignano’s already well-known “Montepirolo”, a wine of undisputed quality to taste, taste again and fall in love with. Montepirolo is a red in a pleasantly international style: a Bordeaux blend.
First of all, what is a “Bordeaux blend”? A little lesson for everyone: it is the blend of grape varieties traditionally used for the red wines of Bordeaux. The term goes back to the English merchants who imported Bordeaux wines in large quantities, and refers both to the wines and to the varieties. The main grapes are Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, followed by Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec, in different combinations and proportions. Carmenère is on the list too, though it rarely appears in modern Bordeaux vineyards.
More specifically, the Montepirolo 2021 we taste is 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, with the rest Merlot and Cabernet Franc, organically grown. It is a “cru”, since all the vines grow on the 25 hectares of the Montepirolo hill itself, at Coriano, by the winery. Each variety is picked when it is ripe: Merlot reaches Monia’s capable hands in the cellar first, followed by Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Fermentation is temperature-controlled, with about three weeks on the skins. The wine then ages for 24 months in barrique in a temperature-controlled cellar, and another 18 months in bottle.
So what makes the “Monia style”? From the 2021 vintage Monia decided to age the three varieties separately in barrique and only blend them afterwards. Taste a 2020 and a 2021 side by side and you’ll clearly notice the difference — and you’ll also see how much the weather of each year affects the final result in the bottle.
2020 was a particularly hot year, by day and by night, which shows on the nose and palate as sultana and sometimes cooked grape (the infamous “cooked” notes). When it’s always sweltering in the vineyard, there comes a point where the grape “won’t go any further” and phenolic ripening stops: the only thing that rises is alcohol. That made 2020 an unbalanced vintage, regardless of the blend made before barrique by Monia’s predecessors.
2021, by contrast, was a more balanced year: bigger night-time temperature drops helped achieve a good result. Spontaneous malolactic fermentation in spring and grapes picked at around 13% potential alcohol made the wine in the bottle unique. And it was in 2021 that Monia began keeping Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc in separate barriques, blending them only at the very end.
Buy Montepirolo 2021, try it and enjoy it — to the health of Monia and of Sadifruttirossi.
In the glass it shows an intense ruby red. The nose opens with vivid, inviting hints of redcurrant and marjoram, enriched by elegant notes of helichrysum (in honour of our AIS Romagna vice-president Angela Casadei, who loves it).
“And what’s helichrysum?” Its flowers and leaves have an aroma reminiscent of liquorice and chamomile. On the palate the wine is pleasantly round, with excellent structure and a long finish, and pleasant, velvety tannins.
Today’s pairing: the Montepirolo 2021 cru is lovely on its own and ideal with risotto and fresh cheeses. So, burdèl, try it with a good Parmigiano Reggiano risotto (choose a long-aged one) and a few drops of traditional balsamic vinegar of Modena. Persistence meeting persistence makes for a lovely experience, while the wine’s freshness balances the slightly sweet side of the dish beautifully. Ready? Let’s drink…