Chardonnay and Grignolino, the two faces of Tenuta Santa Caterina

A winery in the heart of Monferrato that stands out thanks to the commitment of owner Guido Carlo Alleva, who has been in love with the vineyard and winery since childhood.

Milan, a warm September evening, at Daniel Canzian's restaurant, discovering the latest creation of Tenuta Santa Caterina, a winery in the heart of Monferrato. Welcoming us to the table was Guido Carlo Alleva, patron of the winery. His is the story of a return. To his Monferrato origins, to the passion born at a young age then abandoned to follow the more "serious" path, which led him to an important career as a criminal lawyer. But Alleva remains a vigneron in his soul. Thus, in 2000 he came into possession of the 18th-century Santa Caterina estate in Grazzano Badoglio, in the Asti area, in those same places where his love for the land and wine had blossomed as a child.

This was the starting point of a long regeneration effort that today leads to the rebirth of the entire estate, in a muffled, ancient atmosphere where vaulted ceilings, old parquet floors and a timeless intimacy come back to life, becoming one with the surrounding landscape, the perfectly manicured gardens and, of course, those vineyards that Alleva, nomen omen, had always wanted to care for.

The estate includes 23 hectares of vineyards and produces about 60,000 bottles using the work of Luciana Biondo, an agronomist and oenologist who runs the estate. Organic since 2015, the estate has actually always followed the path of nature, with an approach tending toward biodynamic but without the need to harness itself in it. An approach that does not need to be categorized and that translates into a wise agronomic technique of natural cycles aimed at respecting and enhancing the biological fertility of the soil and a precise attention to biodiversity.

Most of the vineyards have been replanted but two old vines still remain, one of Freisa and one of Grignolino, the latter a true passion of Guido Carlo who, over the years, has been able to restore it to its former glory together with the Monferace association. Forget the vision of Grignolino to be consumed immediately, easy and drinkable. Monferace is a real project that from the grape variety wants to bring out again its ability to age over time and to amaze with its elegance and depth. A bet won that in Tenuta Santa Caterina's Monferace certainly has a solid confirmation.

But let us return to the warm September evening, cuddled by Daniel Canzian's original and decisive dishes-one above all the persuasive Cappesante alla serenissima, a voluptuous game between the savoriness of the shellfish and the sweetness of the figs-to veer toward the Bianchista face of the winery. Yes, because to counterbalance the Grignolino, there is also Chardonnay. An old love, too, that led Alleva to go as far as Burgundy to identify the right clones to plant in a terroir that from the start, because of the estate's white, limestone soils, he imagined perfectly compatible with this grape.

"Chardonnay has been grown in Piedmont since the late eighteenth century," explains Guido Alleva, "and here it finds its ideal habitat. There are areas of Burgundy very similar to ours in Monferrato, with soils rich in limestone." Thus was born Silente delle Marne, from the Maddalena vineyard at 300 meters above sea level, a pure Chardonnay that owes its name precisely to the marly soil on which it thrives. A fat wine of elegant butteriness, sensual and full, which stylistically takes one back to Meursault and to that Burgundy from which Guido Alleva starts to make his Chardonnay blossom.

But the protagonist today is its younger brother, a newborn just arrived in the glass and the reason for the meeting of the warm September evening, the winery's first Metodo Classico. 36 months on yeasts, same grape variety, same vineyard but very different character, elegant and dynamic, characterized by a youthful exuberance. About 3,000 bottles produced, but "confirmed rumors" swear that in the cellar a good part of them still rests on its lees, to let time still carve them, pulling out new deep nuances and the soul of that territory and of that child, who so many years before, in those places played and imagined himself vigneron.Per leggere le schede dei vini assaggiati, clicca sul nome:

• Metodo Classico GC Guido Carlo 2019 
• Monferrato Bianco Silente delle Marne 2018 
• Grignolino d’Asti Monferace 2018

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