Posted By Joel on April 22, 2009

Monte Tondo Soave “Mito” 2007

As students in music school, we were taught to mark our composition scores with words like Adagio for slowly, Dolcezza with sweetness, and Velocemente, very quickly - to indicate emotion and tempo to performers.

“Soave” in Italian, like the musical term Legato, means smooth, gentle, and gives an apropos impression of the Monte Tondo Soave “Mito”.

With an eye toward 3 generations of family wine-making tradition, Monte Tondo owner Gino Magnabosco, with help from his wife and children, follows every stage of production which brings the family’s Soave “Mito” from vine to bottle.  The family’s 25 hectares of vineyards, located in the Soave DOC zone, are situated among gentle hills just outside of Verona .  Premium plots include Monte Tenda, Monte Foscarino and Monte Tondo which lends its name to the family estate.

Garganega is the principle grape of the SOAVE production zone, one of the most important zones in the Veneto, and is the predominant grape varietal (70% - 100%) in Soave wine.  Over the centuries, garganega has adapted well enough to the local environment to realize its best expression in the area just east of Verona.  The soil type is typically volcanic and municipalities in the zone enjoy a mild, temperature climate with neither winter or summer being too severe.  In recent years,  some very determined, quality minded producers, Magnabosco among them, have done much to shine an impressive light upon Soave wines.

The Monte Tondo Soave “Mito” is produced from 100% garganega grapes manually harvested at the end of September.  The grapes are then soft pressed with fermentation carried out in stainless steel tanks at controlled temperature.

Tasting Notes:

Straw yellow color with gold highlights and pretty, reflective greens, the wine has a gentle, interesting perfume of almonds, flowers, and fruit on the nose.  Fresh, clean flavors of peaches, marzipan, citrus, and mineral linger on the palate until a smooth and even decrescendo fades the finish into memory.

Food pairing suggestions:  vegetable and chicken soups; tortellini in brodo; grilled asparagus; pasta with sardines; egg salads and egg-based dishes generally; slow roasted oven meats; risotto, especially risotto with radicchio; gnocchi, especially scented with truffle; soft cheeses; shell fish, especially crab; a commercial Greek caviar spread called “Taramasalata”- when spread on anything - pairs deliciously with this wine.

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Categories: $ (Under $25), Uncategorized, Veneto, Wine
Tags: Garganega