Montù or Montuni? Wine, characteristics and history of a legendary Emilia-Romagna vine

Montù, also called Montuni, is a white grape variety typical of Emilia Romagna, in particular of the Bolognese, Ravenna and Modena wine areas. It is a historic wine that today is falling into oblivion, but which in the past has always been present on the border between Emilia and Romagna, thanks to its excellent resistance to vine diseases, its vigor and its elegant freshness.

If you read texts, publications or blogs about wine, you have to cry. Montù is described as a savory, fresh wine, but not very charismatic, not very deep and bear witness to the DOC Reno Montuni, a bureaucratic container that means nothing and where there are very watered down wines. If you talk to some enlightened winemakers like Babini or Gabriele Succi they will tell you that Montù is the white that will change Emilia-Romagna, the white wine that has the potential to become great.

It is typical, autochthonous, you can make structured white wines with it as it matures very late, but at the same time has great acidity. You can use it to make salty wines like the sea, but also sparkling wines, in short, it has thickness and ductility, but few know it and even fewer cultivate it. And when they grow it, they harvest it early to avoid taking risks or to make lean wines. We believe in it a lot, let’s give it a few more years, let’s say 10 and it will become the new Trebbiano, but the Abruzzo style, not the Romagna one!

History of the Montù grape

Although it is a historic wine, produced for centuries in the flat areas of Bologna, there are no reliable sources, much less ampelographic studies on this vine. The first written source that mentions the Montù is Monti, which in 1875 however calls it Montocello, the same name with which it was cataloged in the Ampelographic Bulletin drawn up in 1879. The name seems to derive from the Bolognese dialectal form molt’ù, which means a lot of grapes : the effort of the imagination is almost painful.

Organoleptic characteristics of Montù wine

The nose is not explosive, on the contrary it offers very delicate fruity and floral suggestions, citrus, hay, grass and salty and slightly ripe cereal tones. On the palate Montuni is a wine that is dull at worst, however, if well done, it is a wine of great mineral depth, excellent freshness, good structure and excellent gustatory development. It is a grape that ripens very late, at the end of October, has a thick skin, small berries, covered with copious bloom, but few make it mature for a long time to develop all its strength. For some years some winemakers have begun to experiment with the sparkling process of Montuni, it lends itself, indeed it has all the right characteristics to be successful in this version.

Montù production area

There are not many hectares of vineyards, but it is growing little by little. Its cradle, as well as the elective area, are the hills south of the Via Emilia between Modena and Bologna. It is also easily found in Ravenna, in the vineyards around Bagnacavallo.

Recommended pairings for Montù wine

The good acidity, the dry and decisive flavor and the excellent salty charge make Montù a perfect white wine for every occasion: from fish, to crustaceans, to stuffed cuttlefish, through cured meats and crescentine to get to vitello tonnato, chicken curry , empanadas, hamburgers, spaghetti with clams, pad thai, carbonara.