# Montenidoli Vernaccia di San Gimignano Tradizionale (2024)

- **Producer:** Montenidoli
- **Colour:** white
- **Type:** still
- **Grapes:** Vernaccia di San Gimignano
- **Region:** Toscana, Italy
- **Style:** Classic
- **Alcohol:** 13.0%
- **Average price:** €25
- **Vegan:** Yes
- **Contains sulphites:** Yes
- **When to drink:** Now or Later
- **Serving temperature:** 10–12 °C
- **Aromas & flavours:** quince, apple, lemon, white pepper, fennel, almond, hay, honey

## About this wine

Montenidoli, meaning mountain of the little nests, is an ancient estate located on a hilltop directly facing the medieval towers of San Gimignano in Tuscany. In 1965, Elisabetta Fagiuoli and her partner Sergio Muratori discovered the neglected land and restored its historic vineyards using strict organic principles. Elisabetta Fagiuoli is celebrated as one of modern Italian winemaking's great matriarchs, dedicated to expressing the unique marine limestone terroir of San Gimignano.

## Interesting facts

- Estate founder Elisabetta Fagiuoli famously considers Vernaccia to be the red among white wines due to its firm structure.
- The vineyard soils consist of Pliocene calcareous limestone packed with prehistoric marine fossils and shells.
- The Tradizionale is macerated on its skins in concrete, restoring a historical Renaissance style of Vernaccia.

## Food pairing

The brief skin contact gives this white wine a subtle phenolic texture and almond grip that pairs seamlessly with extra virgin olive oil, grilled seafood, and bitter green vegetables like artichokes and wild fennel.

## Wine making process

The Tradizionale cuvée honors ancient Tuscan winemaking by macerating Vernaccia on its skins prior to pressing at the start of alcoholic fermentation. Fermentation is carried out with indigenous yeasts in glass-lined concrete vats. The wine ages on its fine lees in concrete without oak contact, preserving pure minerality and structure before bottle aging.