Score: 91/100
This vintage wine by Tenute La Montina is a blend of Chardonnay (60%) with Pinot Noir or Pinot Nero (at a 40% proportion).
Manually harvested, the grapes go through the Traditional Method (Metodo Classico) for making sparkling wine.
It is then aged in the bottle on its lees for at least 38 months which start to be quite long for a bubbly. We’re therefore talking here of a refined blend of selected vineyards with a particularly careful winemaking.
So how good is 2009 La Montina Franciacorta Millesimato?
Tasting Notes:
The wine comes in a bright and shiny gold color, it has both the crisp lemon-yellow appearance typical of young zesty sparklings, with a touch of amber hues seen on bubbly that have been evolved and crafted for a few years.
The aromas on the nose are equally bright. Intense notes of fresh fruits jump out of the glass, the sweet and juicy Mediterranean type: rich Limoncello-like lemon scents, ripe apricot, fresh fig. A little tropical too but still on the zesty side with crispy pineapple. A basket full of delicious nature’s treat smells.
A distinct and rather unique aromatic character of iodine sea smell is there amplifying the freshness and giving a sharp mineral feel. Some honey, a bit of smoke, and the cream/butter notes typical of traditional method wines.
The nose easily transports you to an imaginary place around a buffet full of delicacies from fresh fruits to bakeries and nuts.
Tasting the wine, the palate amplifies this feeling. The flavors are very intense and providing a world of complexity. You’re not only smelling a buffet now, but biting into every piece on goodness this wine contains. Tasting it, I’m now on a Mediterranean market getting a taste at spicy lollies, dried apricots and pineapple, fresh figs and pears, and so on.
It is very well balanced, good acidity, solid body with oily texture, fine but lively bubbles that give it life and positively back up the acidity.
The dosage seems a little high though, putting the wine in the sweetish Brut category rather than on the dry side of it.
Overall
A superbly-made sparkling wine filled with freshness and goodness in an excellent overall balance.
Complex, textural, salty and mineral, it satisfies the senses and fills them with many warming sensations.
Wine & Food Pairing
Because the wine is a touch sweet though on the palate, and displays so much sweet-smelling aromas of ripe fruits, it’ll be best matched with delicate cheeses or desserts rather than appetizers, canapés or most main-course dishes.
Please let me know your thoughts