LAZIO Civitella D’Agliano – Certified organic
http://www.sergiomottura.com/en/
I became acquainted with the Mottura family through the introduction of our mutual friend Sebastiano Capponi but resisted the siren call of these wonderful wines for about 3 years. In 2010 I had the good fortune to visit this gorgeous property and get to know the Mottura family a little better. I capitulated in 2011 after Giuseppe Mottura enlisted some even more high powered lobbyists on his visit to Chicago. But really the wines are so good, the packaging so eye catching, the quality/price ratio so outstanding I overcame my fear of bringing new product into a very difficult economy and market. I’m so happy I did. The wines are a pleasure to share with friends and colleagues. You will so more of them in the future.
The Mottura estate, consisting of some 130 hectares nestled on the border of Northern Lazio and Umbria between the hills and the clay canyons of Civitella d’Agliano to the west and the fertile plain of the Tiber Valley to the East.
The natural beauty of the area has remained untouched by urbanization and industrial development and still offers breath-taking landscapes, dotted with woods, lakes and numerous torrents, although it is only 100 km. from Rome and 160 km. from Florence.
The estate has been in the Mottura family since 1933 and they have been actively involved in the conservation of the area. In the 1960’s the Mottura’s began modernizing their farming methods on the estate: they switched over from share-cropping to direct cultivation and began research into the best use to be made of the soil. On the gentle slopes of the hillsides vines have found their natural habitat and prosper in the volcanic soil.
Records in the archives of Orvieto prove that these hills were particularly suited to the cultivation of vines as far back as in 1929 in so much as some of the best Orvieto wine was even then produced here.
As in many other areas the old vineyards, planted generation ago, “married” the vines to trees that would support them, according to the method massed down from the Etruscans. These have gradually been replaced by specialized vineyards, which now extend to 40 hectares and every year new ones are planted to ensure that the quality of the wines will remain as high in the future.
In choosing the varieties an important place has always been reserved for the local indigenous vines and clones have been selected on the basis of bearing fruits with all the best qualities essential to wine making; extensive cultivation in the same area over many years has brought about a natural selection of those more resistant to disease, simplifying the respect of the requirements of EC Reg. 2092/91 (organic growing).
| SERGIO MOTTURA | LAZIO Civitella D’Agliano – Certified organic |
| Orvieto | An Orvieto with structure. This is serious wine. Dry, crisp, texture; 50% Procanico,25% Verdello,25% Grechetto; screw cap. Drinkable any time |
| Poggio della Costa | 100% Grechetto di Civitella D’Agliano IGT; Tre Bicchieri – “the red wine for us” says Sergio Mottura and I can see why; think veal, pork chops, ocean fish. screw cap |
| Latour a Civitella | 100% Grechetto di Civitella D’Agliano; rich, complex, oaked not “oaky;” definitely fall/winter wine more than spring/summer |
| Nenfro | Earthy, mushrooms, forest floor and fruit, black tea; did I say delicious? Showing all its character in prime time |