2019 Montepeloso A Quo

2019 Montepeloso A Quo

2019 Montepeloso A Quo Montepeloso A Quo Toscana boasts gorgeous, well delineated aromatics and has tons of unbridled energy. The crystalline vibrancy of the fruit is impossible not to notice and admire. Ripe plums, tart raspberries, wild berries and graphite give the wine a copious intensity balanced by minerality and structure. Layers of fruit build to the vinous yet precise finish. Montepeloso Toscana a Quo is a great wine that captures the full personality of a fine vintage.

The 2019 A Quo, Montepeloso’s entry-level red, delivers the goods and then some. Fresh, floral and beautifully lifted, the 2019 offers up a bevy of crushed berry fruit, rose petal and cinnamon, all in a mid-weight style that emphasizes freshness and energy to balance the natural richness of Tuscany’s Maremma. Medium in body and wonderfully translucent, the 2019 is an absolute beauty. Best of all, it’s a steal.

Suvereto, one of the warmer micro-climates on the Tuscan coast just south of Bolgheri, is an area that is relatively new to many. Despite its long winemaking and farming history going back as far as 1000 AD, the Suvereto DOC was only officially recognized in 2000. Set in the fertile Val di Cornia, clay soils and proximity to the sea give an intensity to the flavors, producing ripe and direct wines typically made from Cabernet, Merlot, and the local Sangiovese.
In 1998, Fabio Chiarelotto purchased Montepeloso, the estate was already well on its way to international stardom. However, Chiarelotto could have rested on that reputation, but he felt that the way the vines had been planted and trained, the site would never reach its full potential. And so he spent 8 years reshaping the vineyards. He retrained, pruned, and even re-grafted many vines, Fabio was committed to perfection, pulling up thousands of low quality vines and replacing them with varietals more suited to the windy warmth of Suvereto.
The terroir itself is extraordinary: hillsides around the town of Suvereto. The zone’s petrified clay soils, and its proximity to the sea, give a startling intensity of flavor to wines. It’s little wonder that a half dozen estates have sprung up over the past 20 years though, by contrast, most are planted in the heavier clays of the valley floor. His obsession is such that we find few others with which to compare him. But he perhaps most reminds us of the great Montalcino iconoclast Gianfranco Soldera.

This is a truly phenomenal red wine at the price point. This tremendous property that lies just above the famous Tua Rita in the micro-climate of Suvereto in the Maremma lies one of Tuscan’s elite properties, Montepeloso and the value wine from the house the 2019 Montepeloso A Quo is one of the truly great wines at its price point coming out of Italy. The man behind Montepeloso is the great Fabio Chiarelotto who has emerged as one of the towering winemakers of the Tuscan coast. This is a great drinking wine, superbly rich, marvelously supple with a cashmere finish. I often get requests from friends and customers who are in a restaurant and send me a picture of the restaurants wine lists asking me to pick out a great value. If this wine is on the list, it’s the wine I recommend every time. Triple 90+pts by Suckling, Parker and Galloni and with our low price, this is a definite case buy!