The Mattioli family has been in the tiny hamlet the Roman's once called Collecapretta (hill of the goats) since the 1100's. For generations the Mattioli have been cultivating the rugged hillsides of southern most Umbria. Located just outside of Spoleto, in the near-impossible-to-find borgo called Terzo la Pieve, today's farm is a scant 8 hectares in total; 2 planted to a mixture of local olives trees, 2 ha of farro and other ancient grains and just under 4 ha of indigenous old vines. Vittorio Mattioli, his wife Anna and their daughter AnnaLisa live together with 3 generations of their family inside the tiny village overlooking the valley below with the high Apennine Mountains and Gran Sasso looming in the background.
The elevation is some 500+ meters and the soils are a mixture of calcium and iron rich clay with outcroppings of tufo and travertine limestone. Though the total production of Collecapretta is only some 8000 bottles in a good year, the family chooses to vinify many different cuvee's in hopes of expressing the vineyard and grape varieties at their best.
All the wines are made in much the same fashion: natural fermentation takes place in open-top cement containers without temperature control or sulfur additions. The wines then age for various amounts of time in glass-lined cement vats or resin tank before bottling in synchrony with the waning lunar cycle. There is no sulfur used at any point in the winemaking process. All farming in the vineyards is completely natural, only composts made from their own animals are used to aid vine health.
I am humbled to be working with this gracious family of true vignaioli in the heart of Umbria. Production is miniscule and the local demand and private, very guarded clients of Collecapretta easily over-fill the supply for these. This is the first time that these wines have been outside a 100km radius of the winery. Needless to say, very little is available at this time but now is the time to get your first taste of these remarkably pure wines.
Here is some more information on each of the cuvee's in this offer:
(Read all the way to the bottom for special email pricing!)
-Terra dei Preti (894 bottles produced): $45
Pure Trebbiano Spoletino; a rare, localized form of the ubiquitous trebbiano that is made in what the local's call the "ribollito" manner (we call it Orange wine). 10+ days of skin contact yields a golden copper color and wonderfully structured "white wine". Unlike most orange wine there is no sign of oxidation, this is very compact, pure in fruit and long on minerals.
-Il Rosato (877 bottles produced): $30
Who else would import a two year old, copper colored rose`!? Well this is NOT your average rose`, that's for sure. 100% ciliegiolo vinified as a white wine. This has a beautiful peach hued transparency and beams in the glass. They don't rush this out the door and in fact they generally don't even release the rose` intil the Fall after production. This is wine, not just pink drink.
-Vino Rosso da Tavola (~3000 bottle production): $35
If I lived nearby the cantina, I would drink this wine everyday! To this day the Mattioli still sell this rustic little sangiovese as "vino sfuso" to the locals that know it exists (roughly 12 of them). There is a goat on the label, need I say more?
-Le Cese (3266 bottles produced): $45
This is the older vine (60+year) selection of Sangiovese from the hillside vineyards. Less rustic than the Rosso da Tavola yet still very structured and sapid. This is one of the purest sangiovese's I've ever encountered and I think demonstrates this domaine at it's best.
-Il Burbero (734 bottles produced): $45
This is a cuvee made only in the ripe years when a slightly late harvest (~10 days after the other vines) is possible. Il Burbero means "curmudgeon" yet this wine anything but cantankerous. 90% sangiovese, 5% ciliegiolo, 5% merlot this is plush and powerful; a hearty, warming glass indeed. Amarone lovers rejoice!
-Il 2006 Selezione Le Cese: (647 bottles produced): $70
