2024 · Groppolo

Founded in 1980 when Pier Luigi Neri inherited a farm, Il Monticello is a family-run winery in Sarzana’s Colli di Luni, between Pisa and the Cinque Terre, with the Apuan Alps behind it. Today, brothers Alessandro and Davide Neri oversee the vineyards and preserve the estate’s early Vermentino, Sangiovese, Canaiolo and Ciliegiolo plantings. Farming on steep, clay-rich, skeletal hillsides combines green manure, cover crops, mechanical tillage and careful pruning, with ripening monitored plot by plot. Sustainability guides work from cultivation through bottling, while disease-monitoring systems, drones and controlled fermentations complement traditional farming knowledge. The cellar, managed by enologist Filippo Conti, produces whites, reds, rosé, passito and grappa, alongside olive oil from ancient Ligurian varieties. Wines range from fresh, softly pressed whites to reds given extended skin maceration and selected élevage in steel or French oak.