Fattoria di Montechiari

Rows chosen for the hill

Parcel by parcel, Moreno Panattoni works as winemaker at Fattoria di Montechiari in Montecarlo, choosing which vines belong on the Montechiari hill and which wines can carry them. His station is not a single bench, but a set of repeated decisions between vineyard and cellar: the row, the harvest basket, the sorting belt, the vat, the barrique. Since 1978, Panattoni has remained tied to the estate’s production, after he and Catherine Pirmez reorganized the property so that its history could move through cultivation rather than sit apart from it. The choice of varieties gives that reordering its clearest shape. Chardonnay, Pinot Nero, Sauvignon, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Sangiovese Grosso, Semillon and Merlot all have a place here, with French vines set beside Tuscan inheritance inside the Montecarlo DOC landscape. The estate does not frame that range as novelty. French varieties have their own tradition in Montecarlo, and Panattoni’s work has been to keep that vocabulary legible on this hill, with each parcel selected for exposure, soil and the development of the vine. The lineage here is family and land, Catherine’s name held in Donna Catherine Brut, the estate’s organic rosé sparkling wine, and Panattoni’s production discipline carried through the wines that follow the Montechiari name.

Ten hectares under organic practice

The estate covers about 23 hectares, with 10 hectares of vineyard divided into small parcels across the slopes. Those figures matter because the method depends on separation: the slope, the light and the alluvial soils of the hill guide what gets planted where. Fattoria di Montechiari has worked organically since 2009, and the harvest is manual. In the cellar, the fruit passes through selection by hand in the vineyard and again on a sorting belt before fermentation. Steel vats and French oak barriques both have roles, depending on the wine. For Merlot IGT, alcoholic fermentation and maceration on the skins run for approximately 30 days at controlled temperature. Malolactic fermentation and maturation then continue in French oak barriques for about 24 months, followed by approximately 12 months in bottle before release. The numbers set the pace. The work is not hurried toward fruit alone; it waits for tannin, wood, bottle and the particular register of the hill to come into alignment.

An underground cellar below the house

The cellar sits underground, just below the manor house, where the hill gives natural coolness to the work. That placement shapes the room before a tasting glass is ever lifted. Above it are vineyards, olive trees, gardens and the long view toward Lucca; below it, the cellar keeps to a quieter discipline of tanks, barriques and sorted fruit. The atmosphere is simple and familiar rather than staged, closer to an estate where the family history is still part of the working fabric. Tastings take their tone from that setting: the hilltop air, the small parcels outside, the organic cellar beneath the house, the countryside opening beyond Montecarlo. It is a scenic place, but the view is not the point. The point is that the view and the cellar belong to the same property, and Panattoni’s wines move between them.

Where France meets Montecarlo

Fattoria di Montechiari matters most where its plantings refuse a narrow idea of Tuscan inheritance. Panattoni did not abandon Montecarlo by planting French varieties; he worked inside one of the area’s older habits and gave it estate form. Donna Catherine Brut makes that personal, a rosé sparkling wine born from the Franco-Italian story of Moreno Panattoni and Catherine Pirmez. The same thread runs through Montechiari Merlot 2019 and Montechiari Cabernet 2019, two bottles that read the hill through varieties Panattoni helped place at the center of the estate.