De Monaco & Holland "Rosso di Todi" Umbria, Italy 2020

FROM FRANCE + WESTERN:

THE WINE: 90% Sangiovese, 5% Colorino and 5% Malvasia Nera from 15 year old vines. All the work is done manually with self-produced compost from farm biomass. Hand harvested, spontaneous fermentation on indigenous yeasts in stainless steel, aged for 12 months in French oak and aged in bottles for 18 months.

THE PRODUCER: Two hours north of Rome, the Medieval hilltop town of Collazzone is in the heart of Umbria, and part of the recently-awarded DOC of “Rosso di Todi”, on the Southern border of the DOCG of Montefalco Sagrantino. The Umbrians are said to be the most ancient people of Italy (gens antiquissima Italiae) and are thought to be named “Ombrii” by the Greeks, on account of their having survived the rains after the great flood. As Rome became a global power and put an end to this Umbrian culture, first expanding across the Tiber in 396 BC, the hillside towns that flank this ancient river bed are still planted to a mix of ancient biotypes of red and white grapes from Roman times.

In Todi DOC the Sangiovese overshadows Sagrantino, and Lorenzo De Monaco has four different biotypes of it planted in his SW-exposed “Agri Segretum,” along with smaller amounts of Colorino, Malvasia Nera, and some newly-planted “Grero,” or “Greco Nero,” the dark-skinned cousin of Greco di Tufo. With just six hectares in production (and a few more newly planted) Lorenzo’s alchemy is his attention to detail, both in the vineyards (with algae and orange extract treatments as one example of his devotion to homeopathic farming) and in his tiny (but immaculate) cellar, where he experiments with a mix of clay amphorae, and Demi-muids from Taransaud, and larger oval botti from Mittelberger and Rousseau. He also enjoys the benefit of consulting with Ruggero Mazzilli, whose “Viticoltura biologica” is one of the reference standard texts on biodynamic farming in Italy.