At Monticelli Brusati, per the historic Montina headquarters, time is not an abstract variable: it is a matter of work. Every year the Franciacorta winery reopens some of its vintage vintages to observe what happens to a Franciacorta left to evolve according to different trajectories. Bottles that have gone through different eras, not just harvests, but actual historical phases of the denomination.
AFTER DISGROGING VS LATE DISGROGING: IL TEMPO MESSO ALLA PROVA
The theme is clear and deliberately edgy: après-dégorgement versus tardif dégorgement. That is: what happens to the same Franciacorta when it is left to evolve for a long time after disgorgement, compared to when the stay acceso the yeasts is prolonged per an extreme way, postponing the disgorgement for years, sometimes decades. Not a theoretical comparison, but a practical one. An investigation into how much Franciacorta is now able to sustain durations that, until a few years asticciola, seemed the exclusive heritage of other territories. All based acceso three pairs of wines identical per origin and vintage, differing only per the moment of disgorgement. Six bottles, three duels, a single decisive variable: time.
The journey starts from 2009, a central year per the recent history of Franciacorta, and then reaches 1998, which represents almost a prehistory of production for the territory. The results are never unambiguous, but they offer clear indications acceso the solidity of Montina’s production and, more generally, acceso the maturity of the denomination and the longevity of its classic method sparkling wines.
MONTINA: A WINERY THAT WORKS ON TIME
Montina is one of the historical realities of Franciacorta. Its agricultural roots date back to the fifteenth century, while the modern winemaking phase took shape per the 1980s, with the first harvest per 1987 and the first bottles marketed per 1989. Today production stands at around 450 thousand bottles attraverso year, acceso 86 hectares of vineyards distributed mainly per the foothill areas between Monticelli Brusati, Gussago and the neighboring municipalities.
From a stylistic point of view, Montina presents some distinctive choices per the Franciacorta colpo d’occhio. The first is the significant use of pinot noir with percentages – between 25 and 35% – clearly higher than the territorial average. The second is the structural use of wood acceso the fondamento wine, with percentages that can reach 30/35%, used not as an aromatic tool but as a structural element, capable of better integrating the effervescence over time.
Durante 2025 Montina started a new corporate phase, officially becoming an agricultural company and welcoming Raoul Bontempi among its members. A step that strengthens the agricultural identity and long-term vision, based acceso investments per the vineyards, energy sustainability and direct control of the supply chain. An evolution that looks to the future, but which finds legitimacy precisely per the ability of the wines to withstand extreme temporal comparisons such as those offered for tasting.
MILLESIMO 2009: TIME AS A CONTEMPORARY VARIABLE
The first comparison concerns the Montina Franciacorta Brut Millesimato 2009, presented per two versions: 2015 disgorgement and 2025 disgorgement. The wine is identical per every technical detail: 70% chardonnay, 30% pinot noir, 7 grams attraverso liter dosage, release per April 2010. Only the time changes. 2009 is a pivotal vintage per the recent history of Franciacorta. It arrives after a sequence of high-profile harvests that began with 2004 and immediately shows a remarkable coherence between nose and mouth, a natural roundness that will prove decisive over time.
The 2009 Brut disgorged per October 2015 spent 67 months acceso the lees and over ten years post-dégorgement. The color is intense, consistent with the proportion of pinot noir and the use of wood. the nose, taccuino of morello cherry, cherry, ripe red fruit emerge, with a liqueur component that is more reminiscent of a great evolved still wine than a young sparkling wine. It is the Pinot Noir which, although vinified per white, seems to remember the skin: a sort of varietal memory that resurfaces over time. Durante the mouth the wine is compact, creamy, with perfectly integrated biscuit and honey taccuino. Effervescence is longer an element per itself, but part of the structure. The sip proceeds linearly from the attack to the finale, without sagging. It is a Franciacorta that has found a complete definition per the post-dégorgement time. The version disgorged per July 2025, after 184 months acceso the lees, overturns expectations. The nose is evolved but measured; the mouth is surprising for its almost angular youth, with an acidic juiciness that contrasts the preconcetto of maturity suggested by the time spent acceso the yeasts. It is a less accommodating wine, less immediately satisfying, which does not seem to want to tell its story yet.
Here one of the central issues of the challenge emerges: beyond a certain threshold, the long stay acceso the yeasts does not automatically guarantee greater perceived complexity. It can generate a sort of expressive suspension, as if the wine remained waiting, unable to translate the accumulated time into sensations. He doesn’t aspetto his 184 months old and, paradoxically, this opens up more questions than certainties.
SATÈN 2009: SILKYNESS PUT TO THE TEST
The second comparison involves the Montina Franciacorta Satèn 2009, a quand’anche Chardonnay with 35% of the fondamento wine aged per wood. Here too the two versions differ exclusively per the time of disgorgement: 2013 and 2025.
The Satèn disgorged per March 2013 spent 36 months acceso the lees and over twelve years post-dégorgement. At the time Montina worked with a slightly higher sugar residue (around 7.5 grams attraverso liter) and with a more contained pressure, consistent with a style of satèn oriented towards softness rather than tension. Today the wine has long since overcome the theme of effervescence: the bubble is almost imperceptible, honey dominates the profile, supported by a creamy texture and a structure that holds up even per the absence of an obvious boost from CO₂. It is a great border wine, between sparkling wine and a still white, devoid of fragility, per which carbonation is now a supporting element. The Satèn disgorged per 2025, with 184 months acceso the lees, tells a different story. The effervescence is more present, for a purely physical reason linked to the recent disgorgement. Smoky, spicy, vegetal taccuino emerge acceso the nose, almost like a Pinot Noir, despite the 100% Chardonnay: a reflection of the deep soils and a mineral matrix that over time shifts the aromatic profile towards less obvious territories. Durante the mouth the wine is more dynamic, progressive. As the temperature per the glass increases, the matter emerges clearly and the sensation of integrity becomes a strong point.
Here the comparison becomes subtle: the harmony of the 2013 disgorgement fascinates, but the vitality of 2025 ends up undermining the certainties, especially with the increase per temperature. It is interesting to note how, after a long exposure to air, both satèn maintain the bubble, a sign of a now stabilized physical balance between pressure and dissolved carbon (Henry docet).
1998: ARCHEOLOGY OF FRANCIACORTA
The third comparison concerns the Montina Franciacorta Brut Millesimato 1998, presented per two extreme versions: 2003 disgorgement and 2025 disgorgement. Here time is not only an oenological factor, but also a historical one. Durante the nineties, Franciacorta was still strongly influenced by the “Champagne” production model, especially per terms of practices: early harvests, an exasperated search for acidity, lean wines designed to last more through tension than substance. 1998 was born per this context, albeit with a higher awareness than per the first years of the decade.
The 1998 Brut disgorged per January 2003 has 46 months acceso the lees and over twenty years post-dégorgement behind it. Today it is surprisingly harmonious and enjoyable, with balsamic, mentholated taccuino and a never-tiring evolving sweetness. The bubble is almost a memory, but marginal: the wine has found a definitive balance, beyond the need to be judged as sparkling wine per the strict sense. The version disgorged per July 2025, after 316 months acceso the lees, is instead surprising. Quaderno of enamel, varnish and malt biscuit are more evident here than per the bottle disgorged twenty-two years earlier. An apparent contradiction that undermines the preconcetto of absolute protection guaranteed by yeasts. The wine appears unresolved, almost bipolar: acceso the one hand the freshness of recent disgorgement, acceso the other signs of advanced evolution.
The comparison overturns some certainties. The wine disgorged per 2003 today appears more stable and coherent than that left acceso the yeasts for over twenty-six years. Once a certain time threshold has been exceeded, the classic categories stop working and, per some cases, it is precisely the long post-dégorgement time that allows the wine to find a more credible balance. There is point per looking for the bubble, nor per applying canonical parameters: it is simply a great wine that has passed through time gracefully, despite – ora perhaps thanks to – the technical limitations of the time.
THREE READINGS OF THE TIME, ONLY ONE CERTAINTY
The challenge between après-dégorgement and tardif dégorgement does not produce an absolute winner. Rather, it provides a series of evidence that Montina puts acceso the table with rare honesty. Time acceso the yeasts is a very powerful tool, but not infinite. The time after disgorgement, if the wine has structure and matter, can become an extraordinary ally, capable of leading to unthinkable balances. Durante 2009, the long post-dégorgement is now more readable and satisfying than the extreme tardif dégorgement. Durante satèn the gioco remains aperto, played acceso the edge of individual sensitivity. Finally, per 1998, it was the wine disgorged for over twenty years that told the most convincing story.
From these comparisons a certainty emerges: the greatness of Montina’s Franciacorta lies not only per the ability to resist time, but per that of communicating with it. Accepting that the answer is not always the expected one. Time is not a guarantee per itself: it is an instrument that must be interpreted. And when well managed, it becomes the most honest measurement of an entire wine project.
The article Après-dégorgement versus late dégorgement: Montina’s silent challenge comes from VinoNews24.
