In the general trend of the wine industry, where the so called “international” grapes are widely used, it is not easy to find a winery which believes, with no hesitation, in the richness and potentiality of local grapes and, last but not least, getting excellent results. Trappolini winery is certainly one which belongs to this category; a production completely based on local grapes, with the only exception of a wine which is produced with Chardonnay, and the richness of the grape patrimony of their lands. Trappolini winery is located in Castiglione in Teverina, a characteristic town in the province of Viterbo, few kilometers far from the Umbrian border and, enographically speaking, located in the Orvieto wine area.

Mr. Roberto Trappolini in his cellar

 As we get to the winery we meet Mr. Roberto Trappolini, managing director of the winery, who introduced us to some historical and productive aspects of the business «the winery was established in the sixties of the past century and it was my grandfather to start the business and later my father joined him. In the beginning of our business, quality, as we consider it now, it was not a primary productive strategy of the winery, things changed with time and we changed our business from wine sellers to quality wine producers. After forty years we developed our production and commercial line and we are convinced in going to this direction while trying to improve the quality of our production, from vineyard to sales. The winery is located in the largest commune of Latium region and which is permitted to produce an Umbrian DOC wine, Orvieto, a product which allowed us to have a rapid improvement of the local enology, however, things changed with time because the main requests for the Orvieto wine was related to Orvieto Classico and being outside of the “classic” production area, we have been forced, in a sense, to get back and strongly reconsider our origins and our territory. Our land is suited for the cultivation of red berried grapes, mainly historical and typical for this area, such as Sangiovese and Aleatico, as well as white berried grapes, that we also use to make our Orvieto, and the most important one of them all is Grechetto. We obviously are interested in the red berried grapes which have historically been present in this territory, such as Sangiovese, and other that are unfortunately not considered and are disappearing as few producers make wine from them, such as Aleatico and Canaiolo. These grapes are part of our rich enological patrimony and we thought it was not good to abandon them and we believed in keep using them, particularly Aleatico which we use to make a very refined and particular sweet wine without making use of other and more famous grapes. By using this grape we produced our newest wine: Idea. Its production is made by using the same grape species and by using a rather complex process: harvest is done in two different phases, the first one of them allow us to harvest sound grapes without losing the typical aromatic character of the grape, in the second phase we press dried grapes, after a period of 5 or 6 months, and make wine from it; this second phase allows us to add body to the wine as well as sweetness. At the end of both phases we assemble the two wines and the result is a very aromatic and varietal wine which also has good body and color.»

 We are now going to discover the rest of the production of Trappolini winery as well as the characteristics of its wines. «Paterno, a wine exclusively produced with Sangiovese, is certainly the most important wine of our winery, and we recently supported it with out most important white wine, Brecceto, produced with Chardonnay and Grechetto grapes, which is aged for a moderately short period of time in barrique as well as in bottle. Brecceto, which was named after the place where the vineyard in which we harvest the grapes for making this wine is located, was previously produced in two different versions, one exclusively made of Grechetto grapes and the other made of Chardonnay. From 2001 on, we decided to give the Grechetto what the Chardonnay had to offer and vice versa, and therefore we decided to make only one version of Brecceto which actually is the blend of the two wines. The result is a balanced wine, where the typical impetuosity of Grechetto does not emerge while having the typical elegance of Chardonnay. The wine is aged for 12 months, part in barrique and part in bottle. Paterno certainly is our most important product which requires, and will keep on requiring, our highest attention and care in order to make sure the wine to always have the same quality. This wine is produced with Sangiovese grapes harvested in a traditional vineyard located in the border between Latium and Umbria. Even though Sangiovese has always bee considered as a non typical grape of Latium, in this region has always been successful in the production of great wines, however this grape, just like any other else, is capable of expressing proper characteristics according to the territory in which it is being cultivated. In our territory Sangiovese usually expresses itself, not for a deep concentration and structure, something which is typical in certain areas, but rather shows elegance, a characteristic which tends to improve with time. Our philosophy concerning the use of casks is rather moderate as we are convinced a good wine which was aged in barrique is the one where the “barrique aroma” is not evidently perceived. Barrique, according to our opinion, should be used to improve the wine and not to give taste to wine; barrique is for us one of the many tools we use in cellar and nothing more. Moreover, we believe that in case a consumer gets into wine and appreciates a wine which does not taste of wine, this probably means he or she is not used to drink wine or however he or she does not want to drink wine.

 Other wines produced by our winery include Cenereto and Sartei, the former is a red wine produced with Sangiovese and Montepulciano, the latter is a white wine produced with Trebbiano Toscano and Malvasia Bianca. These wines are intended for a different market. Not all consumers are looking for wines like Paterno, Brecceto or Idea, anyway there are many restaurants out there and there are elegant ones and ordinary ones, therefore there is the need of having expensive and elegant products as well as having cheaper but good wines. Cenereto is produced with Sangiovese and Montepulciano. The latter grape, even though it is found in our territory, is not considered to give important wines like the ones made of Sangiovese, therefore we use this grape supported by Sangiovese, in equal parts. This wine is not intended to be aged for a long time and it should be drunk as it is being released, possibly in the same year and however within the next year. Sartei is a wine produced with Malvasia Bianca and Trebbiano Toscano, two local grapes which have a fundamental importance for the enology of most of the Italian regions. Just like Cenereto, Sartei is a pleasing wine which should be drunk as it is being released and is offered at a reasonable price in order to meet the needs of the ones who want a wine to be drunk every day. Both Sartei and Cenereto are aged in steel tanks and we do not use any barrique for them. Lastly, we also produce an Orvieto wine made of Procanico, Verdello, Grechetto, Drupeggio and Canaiolo Bianco grapes, as well as Est! Est!! Est!!! of Montefiascone, produced with Trebbiano Toscano, Malvasia Bianca and Rossetto.»

	A view of the cellars

 Let's take a look at past productions of Trappolini winery, in particular to the wine which is well suited to aging in bottle: Paterno. Mr. Trappolini about this aspect says «the product which has the longest story in our winery is certainly Paterno, which was released for the first time in 1989, in a period when talking about red wines produced in this area, which historically have always been involved in the production of white wines, meant to swim against the stream. However our winery owned vineyards where we were cultivating red berried grapes and we ought to make the best possible use of them. Making a wine to be sold non bottled, a custom pretty common among the producers of those times, did not represent a convenient choice nor a qualitatively productive choice. Our choice was, also according to our wine consultant, to make an important red wine. We started experimenting with the grapes harvested in this vineyard in order to evaluate their potentiality and then we decided to make a red wine: Paterno. Paterno represented in this area a very prestigious and famous wine of the 1960 which was produced by our consultant's father in a local winery. Paterno was a wine that every one knew and every one was talking about and was almost considered as a “myth” of the local enology. We then decided to revive this wine and we started its production. Paterno was the name of the area where the vineyard is located and therefore the wine was named after that, lastly, thanks to the literal meaning of this word (“Paterno” is Italian for “fatherly”), we believe it is the proper tribute to our father which was the first one to change our winery production into a qualitative one, therefore dedicating this wine to him seemed to be right. The first vintage of the 1989 was not very encouraging, however we decided to go on, also thanks to the introduction of new technologies. We produced 2798 bottles from the first vintage and currently, after ten years, we produce about 30000 bottles of Paterno, however we expect to produce about 40000 bottles with the 2000 vintage. Recently we uncorked some bottles of Paterno belonging to past vintages and, with my surprise, one of the years which amazed me the most was 1989, not for the development of its quality, rather for the way the wine kept its characteristics in the course of time. Paterno is aged in Allier and Nevers barriques, that is the kind of oak, according to our opinion, that are best suited for this wine. Paterno is aged part in casks and part in used barriques, we never use new barriques for this wine, just because we do not want strong wood aromas to prevail over the real and proper characteristics of the wine. The first use of new barriques is for white wines and after that, from the second passage on, we use them for the aging of Sangiovese.»

 Let's take a look to market and countries where wines of Trappolini winery are sold. Talking about this aspect Mr. Trappolini says «our main market is Germany and we are also present in Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Brazil, Japan as well as in Italy. Our production, quantitatively not high, does not allow us to be present in every country and in every market, therefore we prefer to be present in those markets which are more right for our wines.» Trappolini winery also produces a refined grappa and Mr. Trappolini talks about its characteristics «our winery produce raw materials, that is grape pomace, which can be processed by distilleries in order to make grappa. It has been since a long time our winery had the need of creating a distilled beverage in order to satisfy and meet every gastronomical match, from wines to be matched with many foods, to spirits to be offered at the end of a meal. The choice of pomace to be distilled for the production of our grappa required a careful consideration; according to a logical point of view it would have been wise distilling the pomace of our most important product, Paterno, however we knew we had a very particular pomace, that is the one of Aleatico which we use for the production of Idea. We then decided to use this pomace in order to make an aromatic grappa which was capable of meeting the taste of everyone. We subsequently found a distiller that gave us warrants about the quality of the product and we selected Berta distilleries in Nizza Monferrato (Italy), a renowned producer of grappa.» The grappa produced with Aleatico's pomace has the same name of the wine produced with these grapes: Grappa of Idea. We tasted this grappa and it shows as crystalline and very limpid, an enchanting aroma of strawberry, walnut, hazelnut, honey, dried rose and hints of banana, very elegant and refined. In mouth reveals an excellent roundness where the flavors of strawberry and dried rose are harmoniously tied and the finish is long and pleasing. This grappa's roundness, almost velvety, is impeccably balanced by alcohol and giving it elegance, refinement and agreeability of sure value.

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