IT / EN
The Monferrato hills in autumn, fog lying in the valley

Monferrato · Piedmont · UNESCO

Monferrato

A land of marl, wind and patience

The territory

To visit Monferrato is to rediscover a territory with a centuries-old vocation for farming. Its landform is marked by a complex, dynamic system of hills, raised from the sea floor through the Miocene and the Pliocene. That geological past bears directly on the shapes of the land today, which change visibly as you move from north to south. Since 2014 it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a recognition that put an official stamp on something the people who live here already knew.

The wine identity of this territory is written in the soil before it is written in any bottle. The white marls of the Miocene (clay, limestone, fine sand) give Barbera that stubborn natural acidity, that mineral tension you will not find anywhere else. Monferrato does not produce easy wines. It produces honest ones.

We are in Grazzano Badoglio, a village of just over six hundred people in the Asti stretch of Monferrato, at 350 metres above sea level, south-facing, forest at our backs. This is where we chose to put down roots. This is where every vintage tells a different story, and that is the only reason we keep making it.

Deep dives

Everything worth knowing
about Monferrato

Monferrato vineyards in autumn, Piedmont

01

Monferrato: territory, climate and terroir

From Miocene marine deposits to Apennine winds, everything that makes Monferrato wine country unique. The geography, the climate patterns, and why the vines grown here produce wines so distinctly their own.

Read the article
The farmhouse porch at Tenuta Magrini, Grazzano Badoglio

02

Grazzano Badoglio: our village

A hamlet in Asti's Monferrato: six hundred souls, a Romanesque church and the quietest hills we know. We explain the place where we chose to make wine, and why it matters.

Discover the village
Marl soil profile in Tenuta Magrini vineyards

03

Monferrato soils: marl, clay, limestone

White marls, blue clays, active limestone. How Monferrato's geology translates into the glass: acidity, minerality, and the structural tension that sets a Barbera from these hills apart from any other.

Read the article
White gravel roads between Monferrato vineyards

04

Wine tourism in Monferrato: what to visit

Medieval villages, castles, cellars, local festivals and wine roads. A guide written by locals for visitors arriving for the first time, or the fifth, and wanting to go deeper.

Explore the itineraries
Hand harvest at Tenuta Magrini in autumn

05

Seasons in the vineyard: a year in Monferrato

From January pruning to September harvest, through flowering, August heat and the first cool nights. What happens in the vineyard month by month, told by the people who actually do it.

Read the article

Frequently asked

Questions we
get asked
most often

Monferrato is a hilly region in Piedmont, Italy, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014 together with the Langhe and Roero as the 'Piedmont Wine Landscapes'. Spread across the provinces of Asti and Alessandria, it is home to some of Italy's most important wine appellations, including Barbera d'Asti DOCG.
Barbera is the dominant variety: here it finds ideal conditions to express its natural acidity and fruit depth, shaped by the calcareous-clay marl soils. Grignolino, Freisa, Dolcetto and Moscato are also found throughout the territory. At Tenuta Magrini we work with Barbera and Nebbiolo.
Monferrato's terroir is defined by its marl soils, clay, limestone and fine sand deposited by the Miocene sea, combined with rolling hills between 200 and 450 metres altitude, constant wind from the Apennines, and marked day-to-night temperature swings. The result: wines with vibrant acidity, recognisable minerality, and a structural tension that cannot be replicated elsewhere.
The medieval village of Grazzano Badoglio, Vignale Monferrato, Moncalvo, the Castello di Gabiano, the Pietra da Cantoni Ecomuseum, and the white gravel roads winding between autumn vineyards. Monferrato rewards slow travel: the best trattorias and least-known cellars are almost always off the main route.
September and October are the most spectacular months: harvest is underway, the colours are vivid, and the air carries the scent of fermenting must. But each season has its own character: spring brings budbreak and clean air, summer the heat on the hillsides, winter the sharp outlines of leafless vines against pale sky. There is no wrong time.

Write to us

A landscape
given to farming.

Monferrato is shaped by the form of its hills and by the people who look after it, and has been for centuries. Write to us, and we will tell you about it, unhurried.

Write to us → Discover the wines →