What is Montevertine best known for?

Le Pergole Torte — a pure Sangiovese from a single high vineyard in Radda in Chianti, first made in 1977 and one of the wines that proved Sangiovese alone could make something profound. It's also famous for what it isn't: Montevertine walked away from the Chianti Classico appellation decades ago and labels its wines as simple Toscana IGT, on principle. Great wine, humble label.

Why doesn't Montevertine use the Chianti Classico label?

A matter of conviction. When Le Pergole Torte was created as a 100% Sangiovese wine, the Chianti Classico rules of the day still required (or had recently required) a share of white grapes and other varieties in the blend. Rather than compromise the wine to fit the rules, the founder Sergio Manetti left the appellation entirely. The estate has stayed out ever since, even as the rules changed — it's part of the identity now.

Is Le Pergole Torte a Super Tuscan?

By the technical definition — a high-quality Tuscan red released outside the traditional appellation as a table wine or IGT — yes. But it's an unusual one: most early Super Tuscans reached for Cabernet and Merlot, while Le Pergole Torte was a defiantly pure Sangiovese. It's the traditionalist's Super Tuscan, and a reminder that the category was always about freedom, not French grapes.

Can you visit Montevertine?

Yes, by appointment — it's a small, serious estate in the hills above Radda, not a commercial tourist operation, so book ahead and come for the wine rather than the spectacle. Confirm current visit policy directly with the estate before planning around it.

Montevertine

There's a wine in the high hills of Radda that could put "Chianti Classico" on the label and doesn't. It wears a plain Tuscan table-wine tag instead — and collectors pay several times over for the privilege of that humility. That's Montevertine, and it's one of the best stories in Italian wine.

The estate sits above Radda in Chianti, in the cool, elevated heart of Tuscany's Chianti Classico country. It was founded in the 1960s by Sergio Manetti, a steel man who bought a farmhouse for weekends and ended up making a wine that changed how the world thought about Sangiovese. The estate's whole identity turns on a single act of stubbornness — and, unusually, that stubbornness produced something beautiful rather than merely contrarian.

The wine that walked out

Here's the story worth carrying to the table. In 1977 Manetti made a wine called Le Pergole Torte from a single high vineyard — 100% Sangiovese, no blending partners, no compromise. The trouble was that the Chianti Classico rules of the era still leaned on a recipe that included white grapes in the blend. A pure Sangiovese didn't fit the box. So rather than dilute the wine to earn the appellation, Manetti walked away from it entirely and labelled his reds as ordinary Tuscan table wine.

That decision put Montevertine among the founding gestures of the Super Tuscan movement — the great rule-breaking wave of the 1970s and 80s. But where most of those wines reached for Cabernet and Merlot and French oak, Montevertine did the opposite. Its rebellion was to be more traditional, not less: pure Sangiovese, the native grape, taken as seriously as anyone had ever taken it.

Montevertine broke the rules by refusing to break with the grape. That's the whole paradox, and it's why the wine endures.

The wines

A short, coherent range, all built on Radda Sangiovese — perfumed, high-toned, structured by the altitude.

Start with the Montevertine Rosso — the estate's flagship blend, mostly Sangiovese with a whisper of the local Canaiolo and Colorino. Sour cherry, dried herbs, iron and violets over fine tannin. This is the house in a single glass, and for most drinkers it's the smartest bottle to buy: serious, ageworthy, a fraction of the icon's price.

Above it sits Le Pergole Torte, the icon — pure Sangiovese from the old high vineyard, and one of the most revered reds in all of Italy. It's not a big wine; it's a deep one, all perfume and length and quiet power, and it ages for decades. If you want to understand why people cross the world for Sangiovese, this is a bottle that argues the case.

At the entry, Pian del Ciampolo is the junior red — bright, gulpable, made to drink young. It's the everyday Montevertine, and a lovely introduction to Radda's high-toned style.

The setting

Radda is one of the highest, coolest corners of the Chianti Classico map, and you taste the altitude in every Montevertine bottle: the acidity, the perfume, the sense of coolness even in warm years. The estate's vineyards ring the old farmhouse and cellar on a hilltop, oak and chestnut woods pressing in at the edges. It feels less like a wine estate and more like a family farm that happens to make legendary wine — which is exactly what it is.

Visiting

This is an appointment estate, and a rewarding one for the right visitor. There's no gift-shop circus here — you come up the hill, you meet the people who make the wine, you taste in a working cellar. Book ahead, come for the wine and the story rather than the spectacle, and confirm the current visit policy directly with the estate before you build a day around it.

Base yourself in or around Radda or Greve to explore the high Chianti Classico villages, or run up from Florence for the day along the Chiantigiana. Either way, Montevertine rewards the detour into the hills more than almost any name in the zone.

What to buy

Match the bottle to the moment. For nearly everyone, the Montevertine Rosso is the pick — the full house character, the ageability, the story, without the icon premium. If you're chasing the wine that made the name and you've got a cellar and patience, buy Le Pergole Torte from a strong vintage and give it ten years. And for a weeknight taste of high-altitude Radda Sangiovese, Pian del Ciampolo is the easy, joyful yes.