The Municipality of Montecarlo is located in the Province of Lucca and its territory covers an area of 1559 hectares and a population of about 4,335 inhabitants. The historical center, well preserved and still surrounded by the beautiful city walls, stands on an isolated hill, at a height of m. 163 RSL.
The village was called Monte Carlo in honor of Prince Carlo, son of King John of Bohemia, liberator of Lucca from occupation Pisa. The prince, who became emperor under the name of Carlo IV, was repeatedly in Montecarlo dealing with the fortification of the fortress that proved to be a strategic stronghold in the wars that were fought in the fourteenth century between Lucca, Pisa and Florence.
The testimonies of the wine sector relative to the Montecarlo area are very old for the area of San Piero in Campo, in a document from the year 846 AD, it is called livellarie annuities in nature, consisting even in “pure wine , grapes crushed three times by the rules, and then drawn off “. In later centuries, especially at the end of the Middle Ages, the increased wine production, thanks to frequent logging and land reclamation took place in the vicinity of today’s country, some of which 6 memory left in the thirteenth-century parchments Abbey of Pozzeveri, speaking between ‘another of the sunniest soils of the south-east slope of the hill of Monte Carlo, known under the name of Vivinaia Coste, the country that preceded Montecarlo on the hill watershed. The village’s history is inextricably intertwined with that of her wine; a fate that is found in the meaning of its ancient name Vivinaia, that passage of the Wine Route, which ran through the whole hill of Monte Carlo. The existence of this path, which had considerable importance until the late Middle Ages, it is significant that the outstanding characteristic day this territory were the vineyards, and significant and valuable production of his wine. At that time, as throughout the West, great was the influence exercised religious orders on the production of wine; testimony was its Benedictine monastery founded in 1200 to S. Martino in Colle, which helped to give the characteristics that in the age of free municipalities were recognized wine of Montecarlo: “clear, vermilion, pure and frank”.
In 1371 appear the first names of the tavern that seal barrels of Trebbiano wine and red wine tanks for sale to the minute, or rather in the taverns of the country, paying on average eight sous gabelle for half a quarter. The gabelle was a kind of duty that was paid in Lucca official details on entry inside the walls, for certain goods of higher consumption. The Montecarlo wine throughout the fourteenth century. was marketed in Altopascio (who was then a small village of the municipality of Montecarlo), and by the lake of Bientina to Pisa. Of course in Lucca and, under the dominion of Florence, also in Florence. It states that until 1567 the town-community offered various flasks of Trebbiano to the Duke Cosimo I de ‘Medici, at whose court “the grapes of Monte Carlo and the Trebbiano of that community cheered the diners.” The passionate work of Prof. Federico Melis was able to show that just between 1400 and 1500 the Montecarlo white wine reached, in trading on the Florence market prices higher than any other wine.
But the wines of Montecarlo also reached another important court of Christianity, that of the Popes. In 1408 Pope Gregory XII was kidnapped by the excellent local wine, tasting it for lunch during a visit to Lucca, and from that moment no one had pulled over, ordering that the papal kitchens if they procure for imbandire papal canteens. The customary for the small country had to honor the home characters Medici with its most valuable product, continued in the following century, when each year he was ordained for the feast of the glorious St. John the Baptist twenty flasks of Trebbiano of the “Monte Carlo of the Community ‘( June 6, 1626). Another major event was the presence of Montecarlo wine on the table of the royal wedding of Prince Umberto of Savoy and Maria Jose, at the Quirinale in 1930. At that time the wines of the Farm Brand Magnani and other manufacturers, Farm Pucci, Carrara, Pardocchi, de Dominicis, won numerous awards in Italy and abroad. The wine was then known by all as “The Chablis of Montecarlo.” Currently, especially in the last 10-15 years, c ‘was in a wine-growing area, and technological renovation that brought the wines of montecarlesi companies to be mentioned with excellent scores on the main Italian and International guides and appreciated in the best wine shops and more good restaurants.
We conclude this journey into the history of the Montecarlo wine with the verses of praise sung by the famous poet Francesco Redi, who in his famous “Bacchus in Tuscany” in 1840 wrote “he is the true potable gold, which mandar soles in exile all evil irremediable “.
REGULATIONS OF PRODUCTION
By a decree of the President of the Republic of August 13, 1969 took place the recognition of the wine origin “Montecarlo Bianco” and the approval of the corresponding product specification. L October 1985 took place the recognition of the designation of origin of the “Monte Carlo Red”. In 1994 there is a further modification of the product specification.
For Montecarlo Bianco is expected the presence of the following grapes: 40-60% Trebbiano Toscano and the remaining 40-60% Semillon, Pinot Gris and Blanc, Vermentino, Sauvignon, Roussanne, taken together, provided that at least three of the varieties indicated achieve individually the percentage of 10%
For the Red Montecarlo is expected the presence of the following grapes: Sangiovese, 50-75%, 5-15% Canaiolo black, 10-15% individually or jointly Ciliegiolo, Colorino, Malvasia Nera, Syrah, Cabemet Franc, Cabemet Sauvignon, Merlot. In Article 5 of the decree of 1994 is recognized an additional designation of “Reserve” for the Red Montecarlo, where the wine comes from grapes that provide a degree minimum total alcohol content of 11.5%, and if it is subjected to a mandatory aging period less than two years, of which at least six months of aging in bottle.