Denis Montanar

Denis Montanar descends from a family of farmers who have worked this domain in Friuli for four generations, and the vineyards, the oldest dating back to 1920 and never exposed to herbicides, have been grown organically since 1996. The domain benefits from a unique micro location that is exposed to winds from the Adriatic Sea, just a few miles south, and protected by mountains in the north. The grapes are hand-picked, and wines ferment only with indigenous yeasts (sulphites are never added during fermentation) and are never clarified or filtered. The minimal treatments are all natural with only sulphur and copper used in low dosages in the vineyards and the production is contained by thinning out the vines twice. The domain grows typical grape varieties of Friuli - Merlot, Tocai, Verduzzo, Pinot Bianco, Sauvignon and Refosco and produces 25,000 bottles a year. The domain complies with La Renaissance des Appellations Charter of Quality, meets bio-dynamic standards and is certified organic by IMC - Istituto Mediterraneo Certificazione. Also, Denis is a member of both Renaissance des Appellations Italia and Aprobio FVG. Complementing wine production, a few hectares of the domain are dedicated for farming classic varieties of wheat, corn and buckwheat, for flour production too, and are rotated with meadow grass for organic fertilizer and sunflowers for oil. We suggest to open the bottle a couple hours before serving. Since there could be natural deposits in unfiltered wines, it is important to gently pour the wine with the minimal inclination allowable. For the whites we suggest a temperature between 14 °C and 16 °C, and 16 °C to 18 °C for the reds.