Podere Orto

Podere Orto lies near Trevinano, a small medieval village in the far north of Lazio, at about 600 metres above sea level. Here, at a point the owners call the Trivium, the borders of Lazio, Umbria and Tuscany meet. The estate covers 8.5 hectares, about 4 of them under vine, and borders the Monte Rufeno Nature Reserve, around 3,000 hectares of oak woods, springs and Mediterranean scrub. From the farm you can see Monte Amiata, the Val d'Orcia, Orvieto and Lake Bolsena.

Simona and Giuliano bought the old farmhouse and its uncultivated land in 2007. They planted their first vineyard in 2009, using a mass selection from an older local vineyard of the 1970s, and then restored the farmhouse with local craftsmen and traditional materials. Today it is their home and a small inn with four guest rooms.

Since 2007 the vineyard has been farmed with biodynamic methods and is ICEA certified organic. Weeding and most vineyard work are done by hand, and the grapes are picked by hand into small 20 kg crates. The wines ferment with indigenous yeasts, without additives, and are bottled unfiltered. For the owners, a wine must reveal the quality of a place and reflect its vintage, so no two vintages are alike.

Around the estate are the thermal waters of San Casciano dei Bagni, the Via Francigena town of Acquapendente and the villages of Tuscia, Umbria and southern Tuscany.

Podere Orto makes six Lazio IGP wines from Procanico, Moscato Bianco, Sangiovese, Grechetto Rosso, Ciliegiolo and other local varieties. They ferment with indigenous yeasts and age in steel and fibreglass tanks, then in the bottle. Whites age for at least 18 months and reds for three to four years in total.

The Bianco is made from Procanico and other local varieties, and the Moscato from Moscato Bianco. In both cases the grapes are pressed after 12 hours on the skins and the must ferments in steel. Each wine spends 12 months in steel and 12 months in the bottle.

The Ambrato blends Moscato Bianco, Procanico and other local grapes. Part of the grapes ferments on the skins in small 10-quintal vats and part is pressed and fermented in steel. The two are blended after malolactic fermentation, then aged 12 months in steel and 12 in the bottle.

Amai is a rosato from Procanico, Sangiovese and other local varieties. The red grapes are partly destemmed and ferment in small vats, punched down by hand three times a day, while the white grapes are pressed and fermented in steel. It ages 12 months in fibreglass and steel and 12 months in the bottle.

The Rosso blends Grechetto Rosso, Sangiovese and Ciliegiolo with other local varieties. It ferments in small vats with hand punch-downs and ages 24 months in fibreglass and 12 in the bottle. The Nero is made only from Grechetto Rosso, with 24 months in fibreglass and 24 in the bottle.