Visit to the cellar and barrel room with 5 wines and platter in Montemagno, 2 hours

If you want to see both where the wine is born and where it rests, this two-hour visit to Montemagno Monferrato takes you to the winemaking cellar and immediately afterwards to the barrel cellar dug under the hill. We end up in the tasting room with five wines, including a Barbera d'Asti and the house Ruchè. The platter is of Piedmontese cured meats and cheeses.

In the winemaking cellar you will see the horizontal winemakers and stainless steel tanks where the must ferments at a controlled temperature. From there you go down to the aging cellar, buried deep under the Asti hills. Under the brick vaults rest wooden barrels of various sizes, Allier oak barriques and tonneaux. Here they refine the reds that need more time: the Barbera d'Asti Superiore, for example, remains in wood for 16 to 28 months before returning to steel.

Alongside Barbera and Ruchè, the three remaining glasses come from the winery's range, which goes from whites from Timorasso and Riesling to Grignolino d'Asti and Monferrato Rosso.

Good to know: the visit is done for groups of 2 to 20 adults, and minors can accompany you with a drink or tea instead of wine. The winery shop, also open on Saturdays and Sundays, sells the wines you have tasted and the house grappas.

This is the shortest tasting that we offer in Montemagno Monferrato, in the province of Asti. In an hour and a half you will visit the cellar with a guide and taste three wines from our production accompanied by a platter of cured meats and cheeses. It's good for those who want to get to know the wines of these hills without dedicating half a day to it and can easily fit into a tour of the Monferrato cellars.

The visit begins at the farmhouse, a restored nineteenth-century farmhouse surrounded by vineyards. In the cellar we will tell you about the journey of the grapes from the harvest, which here is done by hand in boxes, up to the stainless steel tanks and the bottle.

The three glasses and the cutting board await you in the tasting room, and you can ask all the questions you want about the wines and pairings. Compared to the five-wine tasting, it lasts half an hour less. If a wine convinces you, you can find it in the cellar shop together with the house grappas.

Good to know: we start with a minimum of 2 people. The tasting is for adults, but minors can accompany you: they do not drink wine and during the tasting they receive a soft drink or tea with chips. The cellar is accessible by wheelchair and stroller and, if it rains, the tasting takes place indoors. The visit takes place in Italian or English. The farm can only be reached by car passing through Castagnole Monferrato in the direction of Refrancore.

Ruchè is grown only in seven municipalities north of Asti, and Montemagno Monferrato is one of these. This two-hour tasting is dedicated entirely to him. After the visit to the cellar and the barrel cellar you will taste five Ruchè-based wines, pure and blended, and finally a Ruchè grappa with a platter of local cured meats and cheeses.

The other six municipalities of the denomination are Castagnole Monferrato, Grana, Portacomaro, Refrancore, Scurzolengo and Viarigi. The DOC arrived in 1987 and the DOCG in 2010.

It is an aromatic red, and during tasting you will be able to compare the versions. In the house range, the pure Ruchè matures in steel and smells of dog rose with a hint of white pepper. The Reserve instead spends 12-14 months in French wooden barriques and brings spicy notes reminiscent of incense, with almond and liquorice on the finish. In the blended versions, Ruchè is combined with other vines from the estate, starting with Barbera.

The visit preceding the tasting starts from the winemaking cellar, where the Ruchè ferments in steel at a controlled temperature, and goes down to the underground barrique cellar where the Reserve barriques rest. Finally comes Ruchè grappa, distilled from the pomace of the same vine.

Good to know: it is our tasting with the smallest group, from 2 to 10 people, and it takes place in Italian or English. It is reserved for adults, but minors can accompany you and there is a drink or tea for them.