Montaribaldi Chardonnay Langhe DOC, 2019

100% Chardonnay. In 1968 Pino Taliano founded Taliano Guiseppe; he acquired vineyards throughout the Piedmont; his desire was to create a diverse array of holdings that could highlight the different soils, climatic conditions and traditional varietals of the Piedmont.

In 1994, Pino's son Luciano took over the reigns and changed the name of the family business to Azienda Agricole Montaribaldi. The name is an homage to the agricultural roots of the Taliano family, Azienda Agricola translates as, "agricultural business." The name Montaribaldi refers to the ancient Roman road that linked the winery to the different vineyards throughout the Piedmont, thus creating a philosophical and geographical umbrella that tied Luciano's forward looking domaine to the rich viticultural history of the region.

A dedicated proponent of traditional Piedmontese wine, Luciano works almost exclusively with indigenous grape varietals and prefers to avoid using modern techniques, relying instead on the history of family domaine and the teachings of his father to guide his hand. That said, Luciano's vision avoids dogma, borrowing freely from the arsenal of both modernity and antiquity to create the best wine possible. As Luciano puts it, "even though I prefer to work in a traditional way, I won't discard a modern technique that can improve the quality of our wines and protect our environment."

Today, Montaribaldi has 23.5 hectares of vineyards scattered across the different terroirs of the Piedmont, all linked to the winery by the Montaribaldi road. Just like his father before him, Luciano's goal is to make terroir-driven wines that reflect the unique qualities of these vineyards. Luciano works to nurture his vision by aggressively controlling yields, avoiding pesticides and herbicides, and planting cover crops to foster biodiversity. Replanting only when absolutely necessary, and then only with local heirloom clones, the average vine age of the domaine is nearing fifty years.

The vision of the domaine reflects the mantra of "place over process" and the winemaking is done in such a way as to bring this to fruition: each parcel is vinified and bottled as a single cuvée to highlight the typicity of the terroir and varietal. Native yeast is used whenever possible, and sulfur, new oak, and other additions are kept to a bare minimum.

PAIR WITH SALMON OR SWORDFISH OR A FRESH GREEN SALAD.