The role of Mattia Vezzola for the Garda area of Valtènesi is not up for question. An authentic master of rosé winemaking, a true linchpin of local tradition, Vezzola produces some of the milestones of the entire Lombard oenology every year. The features of the Valtènesi rosé wines are those of the Garda clarets: thin and elegant wines, with a good consistency, but also capable of surprising with excellent substance.
This is due to the Mediterranean climate of the lake, of course, but also to the skilled hands of a generation of winemakers who owe much of their training to Vezzola. The heart of the Valtènesi di Costaripa is Moniga del Garda, halfway between Desenzano and Salò. Twenty kilometres of coastal lakes that benefit from 3000 hours of sunshine a year and breezes that perfectly regulate daily and seasonal temperature changes. In this area, which is among the most northerly in which citrus fruits can be cultivated, the subtle elegance of native vines, a mosaic of polished perfumes, is a natural fact. And Molmenti, one of the greatest rosé wines in Italy, is certainly its sublime expression.
Molmenti is produced out of the morainic-glacial soils of the lake, but clearly benefits from a very complex texture, the product of a heterogeneous terroir. Dedicated to the name of Pompeo Gherardo Molmenti, who introduced claret to Moniga in 1896, it fits perfectly into the golden tradition of that great rosé, born of Provençal inspiration well before this type of wine became a pure summer pleasure.
Produced with the refined but meticulous “teardrop” maceration, extremely soft and naturally rosy, Molmenti comes out – and this is almost unique in Italy - after two years of resting in the cellar, during which it ferments and ages in large oak barrels used from 4 hectolitres each. A full-bodied red-wine treatment for a rosé that preserves class and grace intact.
Of a classic light pink coppery colour, extremely bright and bewitching, Molmenti has a rich and complex texture of peony and rosehip, currant and citrus fruit peel, with more tense vegetal and balsamic notes of basil and mint, and with a nice iodized subtext. On the palate it is incredibly elegant in its structure, yet broad, crisp and enveloping, with returns of citrus and red fruits, but above all with a splendid mineral flavour that accompanies the very long persistence.
