A Visit to Montelliana from Asolo DOCG Prosecco

“Sometimes a co-operative operation people will simply see as a big brand winery when in fact it is only a small one, but it is due to the power of a collective amount of small wineries that gives it its dominance. This I feel is certainly the case with Montelliana.” Christopher Walkey.

What I really appreciated when I was first welcomed by Mara Former, Export Manager for Montelliana, is that instead of immediately visiting the winery to admire its size and structure, we popped in to see one of their supplier grape growers. There is nothing better than taking a tour of a winery with the person who takes care of the land and the vines and this is what I was able to do early one morning of my wine tour to Asolo. A walk through the vines on a fresh sunny early Autumn morning is a perfect way to start any day… A sit down followed in the landowner’s kitchen as we shared coffee and that inevitable drop of grappa.

With the knowledge that from small growers a powerful force can be built, I was soon at the entrance of Montelliana winery in Montebelluna, province of Treviso. An impressive building from the road and of a size to be expected in that it handles around about 600 hectares of vineyards from its co-operative vine growers in the region. Founded in 1957 and with visions of expansion in the near future, Montelliana sits as the biggest co-operative in the Asolo DOCG wine region.

Tour the winery you can really appreciate the work that has to go in to both building and maintaining such a large co-operative from the delivery of the grapes to the bottling and packages. Millions invested in order to produce at speed the highest quality of wines that has indeed brought Montelliana many, many awards over the years to dispel any myths that you can not make fine wines on a big scale.

They have such a fine range of wines to choose from that I was unable to taste them all in time, so I concentrated on some of the sparkling range of which there is 17 to discover along with a further semi-sparkling. Not only are they very characteristic of the area, tasting the selection of Asolo Prosecco Superiore DOCG, but you can also explore their own label Cartizze.

If you ever visit the Asolo region then do pop in to Montelliana and especially their ‘Bottega del Prosecco‘ (Prosecco boutique) where you will not only be able to buy single bottles to pallet loads, you can also go to the pump and just like you would your fill your car with fuel, fill up with Prosecco wine and more!