Monti Lessini (or Lessini for short) is a DOC of north-eastern Italy's Veneto wine region. Created in 1987 and revived in 2001, the Monti Lessini title is a classic example of the modern northern Italian DOC. While its neighbors Valpolicella, Soave and Bardolino cover one core style, Monti Lessini offers reds, whites, blends, varietals, foaming spumante (both white and pink) and sweet passito nectars made from dried grapes. This can be seen as wisely hedging one's bets, or as a reluctance to commit to a single style. Regardless, it gives local winemakers a chance to experiment with their grapes, winemaking techniques and consumer base, and perhaps to find the single style which will lift the area's viticultural reputation in the future.
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The varietal wines made under the Monte Lessini title are Garganega, Pinots Nero, Bianco and Grigio, and Chardonnay. The DOC's standard bianco and rosso (white and red) blended wines have a decidedly modern, international (read: French) feel about them, with Chardonnay and Merlot at their cores respectively, to a minimum of 50%.
The Monte Lessini which gives the DOC its name is a geographical area of the Vicenza pre-Alps (themselves a sub-set of the Venetian Alps). This hilly region lies just north of the valleys of Fumane, Marano and Negrar, which happen to be the prime viticultural areas of the Valpolicella; one could almost call Monte Lessini the 'Valpolicella Heights'. In practice, the Monte Lessini DOC title covers a greater area than just Lessinia (the official name for the area): it stretches eastwards far beyond the bounds of the Lessinia National Park (Parco naturale regionale della Lessinia). Rather than stopping in line with the Valpolicella DOC's eastern edge, Monte Lessini continues to cover the area immediately north of both Soave and Gambellara.
