History
The Morando family has been a leading actor in the wine scenario of Monferrato and Langa for generations. The family's philosophy of production is both simple and linear: Territorial respect and value enhancement, the indissoluble link between environment, vineyard, climate and human intervention.
Rigour, planning, imagination and poetry. Loyal to its principles with wines that are made of emotions, suggestions and harmonies resulting from continuous and passionate research aimed at the appraisal of the great wines of Monferrato and Langa, Ruché di Castagnole Monferrato above all.
Wines that read life, interpret needs and desires, under the constant sign of modern productivity. Believing, thus creating elegant productions that bring with them the “terroir” to which they belong, enhancing the vineyard’s peculiarities with unique and inimitable scents and perfumes that are the expression of mysterious harmonies.
The Azienda Agricola Montalbera was founded at the beginning of the 20th century in a territory straddling the municipalities of Grana, Castagnole Monferrato and Montemagno in what was the Duchy of Monferrato, a land of great expectations and promises. Going back to the origin of the name Montalbera is no easy task, although it almost certainly refers to the trees and gentle hills typical of the land surrounding the estate. Around the mid-1980s, the Morando family, owners of the wine estate, adopted a policy of ongoing expansion with the acquisition of adjacent land and the planting of new vineyards, predominantly Ruchè. At present, Montalbera ranks amongst the most technologically advanced wineries in the world, it interprets with wisdom the "fruit" the earth offers, fully respecting local traditions that go back a thousand years. The result of the winery's growth allows us to state unequivocally that roughly 55% of the Ruché di Castagnole Monferrato and roughly 12% of the Grignolino d'Asti "produced in the world" "springs forth" from the Montalbera di Castagnole wine cellars.
Today Montalbera consists of three vineyards: the first in Castagnole Monferrato (Monferrato),145 hectares in a single lot, recognised for its production of the "Red Prince of Monferrato", the indigenous Ruché, the second in Castiglione Tinella (Langhe), in the San Carlo district - 15 hectares in a single lot under Moscato d'Asti – also the birthplace of the head of the family Enrico Riccardo Morando, and lastly the third – a three hectares acquisition of vines for “Nebbiolo da Barolo” in Castiglione Falletto – for the production of a selected Barolo label.
The winery is a somewhat rare phenomenon on the Piedmontese scene, straddling, as it does, Monferrato and the Langhe.