To be honest, I both love and hate talking about the mythical wines of Collecapretta. In many ways I simply struggle to express the thoughts and sensations I get when I think about the place, the people, the land and of course the wines...perhaps after getting to know the Mattioli family over the past decade I'm simply "too close" to the wines to think clearly about them anymore...and if that's the worst thing that happens I'm quite alright with it.
I'm not gonna ramble off all the technical details about how the wines were made, the precise amount of skin maceration, the soil types, the "blend"....blah, blah, blah. If you want that information it's out there (it's on our website in fact), but these wines in particular are truly greater than the sum of their parts.
In many ways, these wines start with the family. The Mattioli's have called the tiny hamlet of Terzo la Pieve in southern Umbria home for generations, dating back to the medieval times (there's an amazing family tree framed behind their kitchen table). When I first visited the farm it was the father, Vittorio, who was clearly at the helm of the ship. He walked me through the vineyards and the olive groves, showed me the gardens planted between the rows of grapevines. Him being Umbrian and me being a dumb 26 year old trying to start an import company, Vittorio was justifiably skeptical of me...yet he was warm and generous with his time and tone. What I noted however was when we got back to the tiny cellar, it was his oldest daughter, Annalisa, that poured us the wines to taste. She smiled and was almost giddy to share these "secret" family wines with us, to tell the story of the harvest and leave just enough to the imagination.
I knew it then like I know it now...these are some of the best wines in Italy…. full stop.
Usually people would talk about a new release of wines they'd maybe start with the white wines and move to the reserve red wines...but to me the wines of Collecapretta start with the place...the Vigna Vecchia, the "Old Vineyard". This vineyard is a scant hectare, perched on a west facing slope with vines that are in some cases 90+ years old...vines that Vittorio's grandfather planted as a child. The Vigna Vecchia is the mothership...it contains all the native grape varieties found in the vineyard parcels throughout the farm: sangiovese, greco, malvasia, the prized Trebbiano Spoletino, barbera, ciliegiolo and merlot, yes, even merlot. The Vigna Vecchia is the point of origin for all the wines, they use massale selection vine clippings from here to propagate the other plots, and so if, and when, you taste these wines you say, you know each wine is unique and yet they also have a common thread that runs through them all...well, you just tasted the Vigna Vecchia.
If the Vigna Vecchia (the place) is the mothership, then consider "Le Cese" the hub of the wheel....the epicenter around which all the other wines revolve...like the sun. The Le Cese is 100% sangiovese from a steep hillside vineyard. "Le Cese" comes from the local dialect for "le dicese" or "the steep slopes", indicating the ramp on which these vines are planted. The wine itself is so simple yet insanely pure and complex. It's like that recipe that has 3 ingredients and looks so simple on paper (and it is) but it's far from easy to execute. This wine is in it's own class. If you think you know sangiovese, well, here's a new reference point. By now hopefully, you're starting to understand why these wines are "mystical".
Trebbiano Spoletino. Maybe you've heard of it, maybe not. If not what you need to know is that Trebbiano is a big family of grapes...you can find myriad variations of Trebbiano up and down the Italian peninsula, but not all are created equal. Trebbiano Spoletino, named for the ancient city of Spoleto just 10km from Collecapretta, is one of, if not THE most prized varieties of Trebbiano. The skins are remarkably thick, with a high phenolic content. It ripens very very late in the season, often it's the last variety to be harvested at Collecapretta for the year. This long, slow ripening phase allows the complexity to develop and lends itself to prolonged skin maceration during the winemaking, something the natives of Umbria have been calling "ribollito" (re-boiled, don't confuse it with the soup) long before #orangewine was on Instagram. The Terre dei Preti was the first wine I ever tried from Collecapretta and the wine I always reach for when I need to connect with this producer. This is "orange" wine with a purpose, not made to be trendy or hip. The aromatics are exotic, the texture is gossamer. Simply put - Mamma mia.
Now, there are lots of other cuvee's that Collecapretta makes; from the humble Rosso da Tavola, Ciliegiolo, the new Malvasia dello Scarparo, the Burbero, il Forestiero made from that grape from Montefalco we can't talk about here (it's Sagrantino, shhhhh), Merlo Nero (that Merlot that will change your life) and the Selezione delle Cese (if you thought Le Cese was special, well...just sayin')...and like I said, you can find the details about those here on the website, but what I hope you can take away from reading this is that the wines of the Mattioli family, aka Collecapretta, are special. Unique. Unique not just for the sake of it but because so few producers do it with the care, attention and humility that the Mattioli family does it.
Today, Annalisa is the one steering the mothership....and in fact in late 2019 she became a proud new mom...literally during the harvest! One day the torch will be passed again but at Collecapretta it will always be a family affair. When you drink these wines take pause, let it soak in. You have something special in your glass.
Below are some words directly from Annalisa Mattioli about the 2019 harvest. I hope you enjoy.
Vendemmia 2019
"The harvest of 2019 was quite abundant: we did not manage to make the hectoliters of 2018 (a year of extraordinary abundance) but we cannot consider ourselves unfortunate. The grapes were very beautiful and very healthy and their yield was very high, that is, they were not dry but very well hydrated by the rains that occurred during the summer. We started as always from our Ciliegiolo who is always the first to be harvested for winemaking. Then we continued with Greco, Malvasia, Sangiovese, Barbera, Merlot and lastly our Trebbiano Spoletino. In winemaking, everything went very well except for Merlot which is finishing its last fermentations right now (ed. October 2019), that is when it was affected by the rise in temperatures. We have had tumultuous fermentations given by the general high sugar level. The macerations took in fact a few more days, fortunately not compromising anything regarding the lightness and acidity of the wines. Personally, I experienced the 2019 vintage like never before: I was pregnant at the eighth month and going between the barrels was very difficult, bending over to take even a simple tube was the most complicated undertaking. But I was always present together with my dad, and my mom to watch our grape juices become those wines that today always give us a lot of satisfaction. The curious thing is that this important moment of my life, that is the fact of becoming a mother, gave the wines a feeling of great femininity and delicacy (Malvasia dello scarparo is my wine!!!) I hope you like them as we like them."
--Annalisa
