Montecarlo was one of the earliest DOCs, created in 1969, of central Italy's Tuscany region; it covers the commune of Montecarlo as well as neighboring Altopascio, Capannori and Porcari. The Montecarlo in question is a small town in northern Tuscany, not the famous Monte Carlo administrative area of Monaco, 160 miles (260km) due west across the Ligurian Sea. While both names mean 'the hill of Carlo/Charles', they are quite distinct. Montecarlo was named after Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV in the 14th century, while Monte Carlo was named after Charles III of Monaco in the 19th century.
The DOC covers an eclectic selection of wines made from two of the region's favorite grapes and a host of less 'Tuscan' varieties. Montecarlo wines are based on Sangiovese and Trebbiano Toscano (the regional favorites), which constitute roughly 60% of the red and white wines respectively. They are accompanied by local red varieties Ciliegiolo and Colorino, as well as the Bordeaux trio of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. A local obscurity named Sjriak is also sanctioned for use in the reds, although this is increasingly rare. The complementary white-wine grapes are drawn from a diverse range of French and Italian wine regions and consist of Sauvignon and Semillon (from Bordeaux), Pinot Grigio and Pinot Bianco (used in Alsace and northern Italy), Vermentino (increasingly popular in Provence, Liguria and now Tuscany) and Roussanne (from the Rhone Valley in both France and Switzerland).
This broad array of grapes is matched in its richness by the Montecarlo Vin Santo wines: deep, sweet, golden wines made from grapes whose sugars naturally concentrate as they dry in the months after harvest. For more information on the style and production of vin santo wines, see vin santo.
