Roccafiore

Cantina Roccafiore farms 15 hectares (almost 40 acres) of vineyards in the rolling hills of the Umbrian countryside near the town of Todi. The Baccarelli family (father and son) bought the property in 1999, planted the local Grechetto and Sangiovese along with small parcels of Moscato Giallo, Sagrantino, and Montepulciano, and made their first vintage in 2005. Formerly in the energy business, they kept a mind toward sustainability from the beginning, building a renewable facility, using organic fuels for their tractors, and farming organically. Young Luca Baccarelli feels that this form of cultivation makes for soils richer in organic materials, fewer vine diseases, and healthier grapes. The training system is Guyot, on terraced hillsides; the soils are whitish clay, rich in limestone and chalk; and all vineyards face South East catching fresh winds from the nearby mountains. There are 6,500 vines per hectare, mostly from Massal Selection, and the yield is 85 quintals of grapes per hectare (roughly 3.5 tons per acre).