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Five Super Wines From Central Italy

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Credit: Nick Passmore

There’s a big advantage picking your Italian wines from regions less famous, like Umbria and Lazio, than celebrity spots such as Tuscany: you get a lot better wine for your money.

Credit: Forbes

I learnt this lesson, again, over dinner recently with Dominga Cotarella of the Falesco estate in Montecchio, Umbria. Not only is she charming and lovely but her wines are brilliant and inventive, thought-provoking and delightful.

Credit: Falesco

Falesco was founded in 1979 by brothers Ricardo and Renzo Cotarella. Both have demanding day jobs: Ricardo, known as Il Mago (the Wizard), is a wine consultant working all over Italy and even in France, while his brother, Renzo, is Chief Enologist and Chief Executive of Marchesi Antinori. So Falesco is now run by three women: Dominga, Ricardo’s daughter, and Marta and Enrica, Renzo’s.

Credit: Falesco

Falesco is relentlessly experimental. One example: they're working with an almost extinct varietal, Roscetto, for both Metodo Classico – that’s fizz – and a late-harvest, sweet wine employing the ancient Italian practice of drying the grapes on straw racks. Not easy to do, and unlikely to lead to much profit, but it’s part of the passion.

Credit: Falesco

It’s also in very limited production so wasn’t presented at dinner, unfortunately, but five lovely wines were.

Vitiano Bianco Umbria IGP 2015

Credit: Falesco

50% Verdicchio, 50% Vermentino, $12

Bright and fresh thanks to the fruity Vermentino, with the Verdicchio adding just enough assertive punchiness to assure substance. Dry, with appealing, aromatic hints of arancini.

Ferentano Lazio IGP 2007

100% Roscetto, $25

Made from the exceedingly rare white Roscetto, not only native to Lazio, but only grown by Falesco who claim to have preserved it from extinction. The tight bunches of small white grapes darken as they mature. Harvested late, and a long, cool maceration all result in a fully-flavored wine packed with complex flavors: banana, toasted bread, fresh and dried fruit and even hints of almonds. Unique.

Ferentano Lazio IGP 2012

Credit: Falesco

100% Roscetto, $25

Not surprisingly given its youth, this version hasn’t developed the complexities of its older sibling, but it will.

“We are convinced that this grape that had almost disappeared has great potential.” Dominga.

Tellus Merlot Umbria IGP 2013

Credit: Falesco

100% Merlot, $16

Wow, it just explodes with flavor! A little young at the moment, a little rambunctious, but there’s a lovely ripe fruitiness, along with a remarkable nuanced depth, including suggestions of balsamic notes. 25 year old vines also contribute too. Intriguing. It has tremendous energy.

Montiano Lazio IGT 2013

Credit: Falesco

100% Merlot, $40

Low yields from a single vineyard – and, I suspect, the cultivation of super-ripe grapes -- results in a concentrated, rich, creamy, satiny and seductive wine, and 1.5% more alcohol than the Tellus above’s 13%, This is the sort of wine that appeals to the Gods of rating point adjudication, and many American palates too.