Cortese dell Alto Monferrato
Cortese is one of the most important dry white wines produced in Piedmont. Although it does not match the fame of red wines and muscats, which are the real pride of this region, is considered an excellent wine for meals. Cortese is produced in the Alto Monferrato area, in the closed area between Bormida and Scrivia, at the foot of the Ligurian Apennines. The main wine centers of this region are Acqui, Ovada and Novi, in the province of Alessandria.
The Cortese variety is the most widespread white grape variety in the region. Strain, which probably comes from these areas, was already known in the eighteenth century. The first fairly detailed description of this variety can be found in the published in 1798 of the year of the systematics of vine varieties grown in the Piedmont region by count Nuvolone, Deputy Director of the Agricultural Cooperative in Turin. Under the slogan Cortese we read: "it has quite long clusters and large berries. Ripe fruits acquire a yellow color and are very tasty. They give good wine and are efficient. Well stored”.
Another mention of Cortese can be found in a document from 1852 year. From these notes we learn m.in., that this variety was grown in different parts of the region, including "Old Piedmont", highly regarded for its varietal purity and yield.
Today, cultivation of this strain characterized by high resistance to diseases and frost resistance has developed in particular in the western part of the Oltrepo Pavese region, where the Cortese variety is often used for new plantings.
Cortese dell Alto Monferrato, which has obtained the right to use the DOC appeal in 1979 year, makes an invaluable contribution to the development of white wine production in the Piedmont region, where to this day white wines account for just over a third of the total production of red wines.
Consorzio Tutela Vini d Asti e Monferrato
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