Montevetrano

The story

The 1983 Circle

In 1983, Silvia Imparato sat at a table with a group of friends who shared an interest in wine. One of them was Riccardo Cotarella. The hillside in San Cipriano Picentino existed, the Bourbon estate and the medieval castle above it existed, but the vineyard did not. No bottles had ever come from that land. It took six years before the first wine was made, from vines planted on a slope inside a regional park, using Cabernet Sauvignon in a region where nobody had placed that wager before. The wine took the name of the hill. That first batch had no commercial model to follow and no established market for southern Italian Cabernet to sell into. The label went on anyway, and the wine from that hillside in Salerno became one of the bottles that changed how drinkers understood what Campania could produce.

From the atlas

Montevetrano

At A Glance

The Producer

Silvia Imparato farms five hectares of vines on a hillside in San Cipriano Picentino, forty kilometres east of Salerno, inside Monti Picentini Regional Park. The vineyard sits at 100 metres above sea level on what was once a Bourbon estate, on a southwest-facing slope in the shadow of a medieval castle, flanked by oaks, chestnuts, citrus trees and olives. That setting, the wild parkland and the old stone surroundings, tells you something about the estate's character before you open a bottle.

Imparato planted Cabernet Sauvignon in a region that had no serious commercial wine tradition. Her winemaking partner from the beginning was Riccardo Cotarella, one of Italy's most prominent consulting winemakers. The wine carries the estate's name: Montevetrano, a Colli di Salerno IGT red blending Cabernet Sauvignon, Aglianico and Merlot from the estate's own vines, fermented and bottled on the property. In September 2025, the estate was acquired by Tenuta Ulisse, controlled by White Bridge Investments II Spa.

Place

Campania is southern Italian wine country, warm and dry, with soils shaped by centuries of volcanic activity. San Cipriano Picentino sits in the Picentini hills inland from the Tyrrhenian coast, where altitude and aspect temper the heat enough to preserve acidity in the grapes. The Colli di Salerno IGT designation covers the hills of Salerno province and was the logical label for a wine that did not fit Campania's traditional appellations built around indigenous varieties like Fiano, Greco or Aglianico alone.

The southwest exposure on the Montevetrano hillside means afternoon sun, full ripeness and warm tannins in the Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, while the altitude keeps freshness in the finished wine. The estate's position inside the regional park, away from intensive agriculture, adds to the setting's character.

Core, the second wine, comes from a different place entirely. Imparato sourced its Aglianico from mature vineyards in Guardia Sanframondi and Castelvenere in Benevento province, in the Sannio area to the north. Those soils carry tuff, volcanic ash and clay-limestone, geology that draws sharper, more angular tannin from Aglianico than the Salerno hillside would.

Soil And Site

The Montevetrano estate vineyard covers approximately five hectares on a hillside slope with southwest orientation at 100 metres above sea level. Vines are trained by spurred cordon and Guyot at 4,000 plants per hectare. The combination of hillside drainage and afternoon sun drives even ripening across the Cabernet Sauvignon, Aglianico and Merlot.

Core's Sannio parcels carry volcanic soils with tuff and ash layered through clay and limestone. These soils hold mineral character and give Aglianico firmer acidity and more compact fruit than the grape shows on flatter, richer ground.

Story

In 1983, a circle of wine-loving friends gathered in the south. Among them were Silvia Imparato and Riccardo Cotarella. At that point there were no vines on the hillside in San Cipriano Picentino, no label, and no precedent for serious wine from this corner of Salerno province. Six years passed before the first bottles appeared, made from a vineyard planted without a commercial template to follow.

Cotarella shaped the cellar work from the beginning: stainless steel fermentation, long skin contact, new French oak barriques for ageing. That combination became the Montevetrano method and remained consistent as the estate grew its reputation through the 1990s and into the 2000s. Around the estate's twentieth anniversary, Imparato added Core, a pure Aglianico wine sourced from purchased parcels in Sannio, giving the range a second red built entirely on a southern Italian grape.

Vineyards And Cellar

The flagship Montevetrano is made from estate grapes only. Before fermentation begins, 15% of the free-run juice is drained from the must, concentrating the solids and increasing skin-to-juice ratio in the tank. Fermentation runs for roughly 20 days in stainless steel with long skin maceration, extracting colour and tannin from the Cabernet Sauvignon, Aglianico and Merlot. The wine then spends 12 months in new 225-litre barriques made from Nevers, Allier and Tronçais oak, three forest sources that each contribute slightly different grain and spice character. Twelve months in new wood at that scale adds body and rounds the tannin without softening the wine's frame.

Core follows a similar logic but with different source material. The Aglianico from Sannio undergoes long skin maceration, 15 days of alcoholic fermentation in stainless steel, and completed malolactic fermentation. It ages for ten months in new 225-litre barriques from the same oak sources as the flagship, then spends four months in bottle before release. Shorter in wood than the flagship, Core relies on the grape's natural grip and the volcanic soils' mineral character rather than extended oak integration.

Wines

Montevetrano (flagship): A Colli di Salerno IGT red blending Cabernet Sauvignon, Aglianico and Merlot. A documented vintage used 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Aglianico and 10% Merlot, which gives a sense of the wine's architecture: French variety in command, Aglianico adding dark fruit and backbone, Merlot softening the seam between them. The 20-day fermentation with skin maceration and 15% must drainage produces a wine with concentrated colour, firm tannin and a mid-palate that holds its weight through the oak ageing. Montevetrano is a Campanian red that reads as international in its construction but southern Italian in its depth and warmth.

Core: A 100% Aglianico red from mature vineyards in Guardia Sanframondi and Castelvenere in Benevento province, first produced in 2011. The name carries two meanings: amore in Neapolitan dialect and the English word for essence. Compared to the flagship, Core is tighter and more angular, driven by Aglianico's high acidity and firm, grainy tannin. The volcanic soils in Sannio add a mineral thread through the fruit. Ten months in new oak softens the wine enough to approach it young.

In The Glass

The flagship Montevetrano opens with dark fruit, cedar and warm spice from the Cabernet Sauvignon and new Nevers and Allier oak. In the mouth, the tannin is firm and even, built partly by the long skin maceration and partly by 12 months in new barriques. The mid-palate carries concentrated dark cherry and plum from the Aglianico portion, and the Merlot smooths the transition to a finish that holds warmth and length. Acidity keeps the wine from heaviness despite the concentration.

Core tastes different from the start. Aglianico on volcanic soils brings tighter, darker fruit, more grip in the tannin, and a mineral quality that runs through the glass. The shorter oak ageing leaves more tannin exposed than the flagship. Acidity is higher, the fruit more compact, and the finish drier and more austere. Both wines benefit from time in the bottle, but Core's grip makes that advice more urgent.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the flagship Montevetrano. It is the wine the estate was built around: a Colli di Salerno IGT red blending Cabernet Sauvignon, Aglianico and Merlot from the estate's own five-hectare hillside vineyard in San Cipriano Picentino. The 20-day skin maceration and 12 months in new French barriques give it the weight and depth to hold up over a meal, while the Aglianico adds dark fruit and a southern Italian backbone that separates it from a straightforward international blend. The warm mid-palate, firm tannin and clean finish explain why this wine built Montevetrano's reputation in Campania. Core is worth drinking afterward, to feel what the same winemaking team does with a single southern grape on volcanic ground. But the flagship tells the estate's founding story most directly.

Anecdote

In 1983, Silvia Imparato sat at a table with a group of friends who shared an interest in wine. One of them was Riccardo Cotarella. The hillside in San Cipriano Picentino existed, the Bourbon estate and the medieval castle above it existed, but the vineyard did not. No bottles had ever come from that land. It took six years before the first wine was made, from vines planted on a slope inside a regional park, using Cabernet Sauvignon in a region where nobody had made that wager before. The wine took the name of the hill. That first batch had no commercial model to follow and no established market for southern Italian Cabernet to sell into. The label went on anyway, and the wine from that hillside in Salerno became one of the bottles that changed how drinkers thought about what Campania could produce.

Final Word

Montevtrano is a small estate with a clear argument: that Campania's south, given serious farming and a French-variety backbone, can produce red wine with the weight and complexity of Italy's more established red-wine regions. Silvia Imparato made that case starting from nothing on a Bourbon-era hillside. Core adds a pure-Aglianico counterpoint. The acquisition by Tenuta Ulisse in 2025 opens a new chapter whose direction is not yet visible.

Sources

• https://www.montevetrano.it/en/
• https://www.montevetrano.it/en/i-vini
• https://www.montevetrano.it/en/core
• https://winereporter.it/en/montevetrano-campanias-super-red-with-great-aging-potential/
• https://www.wine.com/product/montevetrano-rosso-2020/3316320