We are in area called Alta Tuscia, Our old and new vines are inside The caldera of Latera and Lago di Bolsena not in Viterbo.
Massimo Antonuzi grew up about 130 km from Rome, by the volcanic lake Bolsena, where he helped his grandfather make wine. Later, with a degree in architecture, he settled in the "eternal city", the cradle of the Roman Empire. But wine culture was deeply ingrained in his soul, and so, together with fellow architect Patrizia Montanari, he decided to open a wine store in Rome. This direct contact with wine naturally awakened in the couple the desire to seek a quieter sort of life, more connected to nature. And so in 2015, they decided to leave the frenzy of Rome behind and head north, with the intention of recovering small plots of old vines located in Alta Tuscia, planted in 1948 inside the caldera of the Latera, that belonged to Massimo’s family. This is how the fascinating project called Cantina Ortaccio came into life.
Massimo and Patrizia’s goal is to work exclusively with indigenous grape varieties from the Lazio region: in 2017 they planted their first Procanico vineyard in Gradoli; in 2019, in the Latera area, they planted Sangiovese, Gregetto, Ciliegiolo, and Procanico. When it came the time to think about the cellar, their experience as architects was decisive. To get to the heart of the amazing cellar, one has to go down a 40-meter-long tunnel that has been dug into the rock by hand. Its depth guarantees constant humidity throughout the year and an unalterable temperature of 12 degrees Celsius.
Massimo and Patrizia's philosophy is quite transparent: to put into bottles what nature gives them every year. To do this, they use agricultural practices based on the principles of biodynamics, which means that the use of synthetic products in the vineyard is out of the question right away, and copper and sulphur are only used at very low levels. In the cellar, the winemaking process is also quite simple. Once the grapes have been picked, they are manually destemmed and foot trodden in vats, where fermentation takes place in fiberglass containers. Once fermentation is complete, the wine is aged for at least 10 months in used oak barrels. Once this stage is complete, the wine is then bottled, without filtering or fining, and remains in the bottle for at least three months before being released onto the market. Sulfites are never used.
