Winery Colle Uncinano - Spoleto - Umbria

Trebbiano Spoleto is a white grape variety autochthonous of the territory near Spoleto. Some experts believe that the naming derives from the latin place-name Trebia nowadays Trevi. The attribute spoletino clearly distinguishes it from the all others trebbiano. Moreover they believe that the attribute derives from the proximity to powerful city of Spoleto, that was a dukedom territory. The main characteristics of this wine are the straw-yellow color with smooth green nuances, the nice, delicate and fresh notes of aromatic herbs and citrus savour with a wide palate and good scents of freshness and sapidity. The best grounds to grow this grape variety are plane and sunny soils with a moderate fertility. The most common training systems are the spurred cordon ones even though in ancient times the grape was cultivated next to maple and elm in order to make the grape growing higher than the round, preserving the plant from late frost so characteristic of our climate. The leaves are hearth shaped, rounded, palmate, with three or five irregular lobes, alternating growing on gnarled vine stocks. The grape is medium sized with a spere shape, with a green-yellowish colour and a thick skin covered of pruina. The grapes reach ripening quite late around the end of october. The origins of the grape variety go back into centuries, but just the the romans left us the first documents about this variety. Plinius the Old in fact, in his work Naturalis Historia, told about Vinum Tribulanum as a wine of the finest origins. In the following centuries, the variety was considered a luxury one, because the wine you could make from it has a simple taste but delicate. Considering the plant adaptability to every kind of soils, this variety could spread all over central Italy, summing up, in each region different characteristics, originating the trebbiano variations. The plentiful productiveness made the variety popular among wine makers and it is funny to rember that it was nicknamed “scaccia debiti”, that is to say “debts discharger”. Through the centuries, the cultivation and production of trebbiano spoletino, faded and faded untill its extinction. But in the last years people began to discover once more the great characteristics of this grape variety and its cultivation increased, above all thanks to the specific attitude to make champagne and thanks to its savour different from all the other trebbiano. Or aim, as a winery, is to enhance the vine variety at the best because it is autochthonous and a milestone of umbrian oenological map.

Grechetto is a white vine grape autochthonous of Umbria. It has a relevant place in the ampelographic map of our region and it is mentioned in all the white wine DOC regulations. Winemakers can use pure Grechetto either blending it with other grapes cultivated in our region like Trebbiano Toscano or Malvasia Bianca as other international varieties like Chardonnay. To find out the origin of the naming we shoul go back to Medieval Age. The wine produced from Ghrechetto remembered the flavours and the savours of those imported from Easter Mediterranean Sea. But the recent molecular researches demonstrated that Grechetto as not to deal with greek vine varieties but, on the contrari, our umbrian Grechetto is closer to the Pignoletto one popular in Emilia Romagna and to Ribolla Riminese. From this grapes we can produce fine wines characterized by a straw-yellow colour with greenish highlights that become deeply golden when the wine matures through some years or is completely refined in barrique cellars. Wines produced by Grechetto have a mothley bouquet profile. In fact, the prevailing aromas are the fruity ones like pear and apple, dried fruits (nut), tropical fruit (pineapple, banana, kiwi and grapefruit) and floral scents (hawthornand, broom sometimes even chamomile and acacia). The refining in barrique cellar gives Grechetto scents of vanilla and cintraging, even though wood organoleptic qualities never prevail on wine’s aromatic characteristics. Tasting says that Grechetto is dry with a balanced acidity and structure. The refining, in barrique cellars, helps acidity perception and, at the same time, brings out wine’s smoothness and structure. Grapes mature quite late between the end of september and the beginning of october. The grape varierty, easy growing, in the soil of central Italy, has a plentiful but uneven harvest and to help this matter the plant needs a quite long pruning and a mid – expanded training system. Moreover, the grape variety stands winter cold and spring frost so characteristic of umbian climate. Grechetto’s leaf is midsize, long, pentagonal and sometimes with five lobes or entire. The bunch of grapes too is medium better small sized, cylindric – conical, close and sometimes with wings. The grape is midsized, oval shaped, with a subtle but thick skin, yellowish and is covered by pruina. The history, of this grape variety, is deeply linked to wine growing in Umbria. First cultivated in Magna Graecia, it was imported into Italy by Etruscan people about 3.000 years ago. That is how the grape found its ideal habitat in the hilly soils nearby Tiber river. The Grechetto Grape  is a variety autochthonous of Umbria, but its vine growing is diffused in other regions too. The vine growing is even marginal in Tuscany, Marche and Lazio that is to say the regions bordering with Umbria. But, it’s important to notice that, outside of umbrian borders, Grechetto is almost blended with other grape varieties while in Umbria is often used to make pure wine. The characteristic vinification method plans inert cellars. In our winery, before the traditional vinification in inox cellars, we let Grechetto fermenting with low-temperature skin contact vinification technique. This method consists to drastically lower temperature of the just picked grapes using dry ice. In this way we can extract scents and aromas preserving the intrinsic characteristics of grapes.

Sangiovese is a red Italian vine grape whose origins are in the Chianti territory of Tuscany as Molon suggested in 1906 according to other experts of ampelography. The naming maybe comes from latin sanguis Jovis, “the blood of Jove” underlining another time the relationship between wine and divine nature in ancient cultures. Somebody else tell that the name derives from the original location in San Giovanni Valdarno. In fact, during the Reneissance, the Castelli del Valdarno di Sopra, under floretine political control, were the main supplier of wine for the capital Florence. Interesting to know that there’s even a third theory about the origin of Sangiovese, suggesting that the original location was in Santarcangelo di Romagna a small town built on the ancient ” Colle Jovis ” in english Hill of Jove. Romans yet cultivated this vine variety on the hills near Rubicone River and we can guess, in this case too, that Sangiovese in nothing but “the blood of Jove”. Sangiovese in characterized by a typical red rubine color with purple nuances and a slight tendence to trasparency, which is particularly evident in the case of overproduction or bad vintage. In fact, the color of the wines produced fermenting Sangiovese vine strongly depends on the viticolture methods and on the vintage weather conditions. After wine ageing, the color becomes a bit garnetish with some orange nuances. When the ageing process is completed the orange shade is the leading one. The bouquet is made of sour cherry and violet but it’s possibile to feeel even currant, strawberry, cherry, plum, raspberry and blueberry. The palate suggests a balanced, smooth, rounded and well-bodied wine. The tasting reveals its typical slight sharpness combined to a dry and fruity savour smoothy herbaceous. The grape requires a long growing season, as it slowly ripen generally during the mid-late october. Sangiovese has shown itself to be adaptable to many different types of soils but it seems to thrive in soils with a high concentration of limestone, having the potential to produce elegant wines with forceful aromas. Sangiovese vine prefers dry spell to humidity and wet solis during the ripening can deteriorate the original quality of the grapes and the health of the vine itself. We achieve the best results during dry and hot vintages, since the vine characteristics give a wine having high levels of acidity and harshness. The grape dimension depends on variuous factors but they generally are a close-knit group. Thanks its characteristics, Sangiovese was clonated in different italian region but there are interesting differences among Sangiovese Umbria, Sangiovese Toscana or Sangiovese Romagna. Our Soviano Regale, a pure refined Sangiovese, is the result of three clones: Brunello, R23 and R24. Traditional ampelography used to distinguish Sangiovese in two classes: the Grosso one and the Piccolo one according only to the dimension of the grape. Nowadays this classification based on patterns established at the beginning of XX century, seems to be a bit reductive considering the great quantity and quality of Sangiovese clones. The history of Sangiovese begins around the VII century, among the Etruscans, and is the first vine variety ever described and menitioned in written documents. The first bibliographical notes “ La coltivazione delle viti” (Viticolture in english) were written in 1580 by Soderini who referres to Sangiogheto a specific grape variety notable for the fine and regular harvest. Without any doubt, Sangiovese is the most popular italian red grape above all in Tuscany, Umbria, Emilia Romagna and the seaside lands of Marche and Abruzzo but it is succesfully cultivated in Lazio, Liguria, Lombardia, Veneto, Campania, Molise, Puglia, Calabria, Sicilia and Sardegna too. Sangiovese won the attention of international winemakers so far that there is a production of wine blended with Sangiovese in California (Napa Valley and Sonora County), Argentina, Corsica and Australia too. This means that from Sangiovese grape the skilled winemaker can produce wines characterized by different qualities; from sharp and light-coloured wines, to full-bodied, deep coloured and alcoholic ones. The typical tradition of central Italy suggests to age the wine in big barrels, even though the modern oenological methods favoured the ageing in barrique barrels too. Our Sangiovese, refines in inox steel barrels almost 18 month long to become our recommended Soviano Regale. We decided to use inox steel with the precise aim to offer the pure Sangiovese’s subtle fruity bouquet that would change for ever into spicy aroma ( vanilla and liquorice) or empyreumatic aromas reminiscent of cintraging, coffee and chocolate when it refines into wooden barrels.

Merlot is a red wine grape which origin can be foud in Gironde a department situated in southwest France. The expert Petìt-Laffite suggests that the naming Melot comes from the comparison with the deep color of the”young blackbird” or even from blackbirds’ fondness for grapes. The main characteristics of this wine are the red rubine color, that can be more or less saturated or slightly garnetish, depending on the ageing and the fine typical bouquet, suggesting reimiscence of raspberry and blueberry. The palate suggests that this full-bodied wine has good rounded and harmonic structure. The taste is mildly dry and with a smooth finish. This variety give the best on cold, hilly and well drained soil because during summer time suffers the dry spells. The best training methods are the spurred cordon and the Guyot one, because they provide enough shade to prevent sudden drop of fixed acidity. In fact, if the Merlot is excessively exposed to sun, the grapes can burn and loose their acidity. The medium leaf has a pentagonal shape and the medium pyramid-shaped grape, with one or two wings, presents a pinkish wooden peduncle. The grape is rounded and blue – blakish coloured with a medium skin protected by a thick pruina film. This variety was already known since 1700, but the first scientific classification could be provided only in 1854. Anyway, it was historically very popular in the three wine departements of Aquitaine and in Languedoc-Roussillon too. The first documents about Merlot viticolture in Italy goes back to second half of 1800 when The School of Viticolture and Oenology of Conegliano introduced this variety in its ampelographic collection since 1880. The first italian region that introduced Merlot were Friuli, Veneto and Alto Adige but soon it was succesfully planted from Tuscany to Sicily. The grapes attitude to quickly over ripen sometimes in few days, after the initial ripeness level, made it possibile a succesfull viticolture even in locations where temperature is a constraining factor. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc are the classical wines of the bordeaux blending making rounder and smoother the taste of the other grapes. Pure merlot it’s quite popular to produce medium either high standing quality wines. If the vine grows freely, it gives plentiful harvest and the light wine doesn’t need to be aged. On the contrari, if the vine is carefully thinned out and pruned during the vegetative period, the winemaker will pick only selected grapes ideal to produce great aged wines as our Reo Superbo. Merlot is highly appreciated all over the world with an increasing demand due to the tannic softness the simple and genuine agreeableness, sweetnees and fruity scents. Because of its fertility, Merlot was for a longtime used only to produce a great quantity of wine not refined in their character and structure. During the last years on the contary, the small winemakers, as we are, tried to enhance the oenological potentail of pure Merlot, constantly looking for product excellence and technological innovation.