Roberto di Filippo
In the 1970s Roberto's father moved his family from Salerno to Montefalco. They started with 6 hectares and today Roberto has grown their family winery to be 30 hectares, farmed by 20 employees. He hires a lot of people to work at the vineyard with him, and has an interesting point of view concerning agriculture. "Right now, only 2% of the Italian population is invested in agriculture. I'd like to see more human interest in agriculture. I'd like to see the 2% become 4%. A lot of people enjoy to work in the field." He has a second project as well: horse management. He trains horses for biodynamic field plowing (something he learned in Romania). The horses help break up the compact clay soils in Montefalco.
In 1994 he switched to organic farming, and he has been biodynamic for the last three years.
In the 1970s Roberto's father moved his family from Salerno to Montefalco. They started with 6 hectares and today Roberto has grown their family winery to be 30 hectares, farmed by 20 employees. He hires a lot of people to work at the vineyard with him, and has an interesting point of view concerning agriculture. "Right now, only 2% of the Italian population is invested in agriculture. I'd like to see more human interest in agriculture. I'd like to see the 2% become 4%. A lot of people enjoy to work in the field." He has a second project as well: horse management. He trains horses for biodynamic field plowing (something he learned in Romania). The horses help break up the compact clay soils in Montefalco.
In 1994 he switched to organic farming, and he has been biodynamic for the last three years.
These are four of his wines. The first two on the left are white wines made from the grechetto grape. The third wine is a blend from Montefalco, and the wine on the right is the sought-after sagrantino.
di Filippo Grechetto
with this wine, Roberto does a "soft vinification" to keep Grechetto's natural tannins smooth.
di Filippo "Sassi d'Arenaria" Grechett0
Grechetto has very small berries, and loads of tannins. Because of the tannins, this wine goes great with heavier foods and has great ageability. This particular bottling had soft tannins, great minerality, and a savory aroma.
di Filippo Monefalco Rosso Sangiovese/Barbera/Sagrantino
Today, many people use cabernet sauvignon or merlot to flesh out their blends, but in previous decades barbera was used. Roberto likes to continue this.
di Filippo Grechetto
with this wine, Roberto does a "soft vinification" to keep Grechetto's natural tannins smooth.
di Filippo "Sassi d'Arenaria" Grechett0
Grechetto has very small berries, and loads of tannins. Because of the tannins, this wine goes great with heavier foods and has great ageability. This particular bottling had soft tannins, great minerality, and a savory aroma.
di Filippo Monefalco Rosso Sangiovese/Barbera/Sagrantino
Today, many people use cabernet sauvignon or merlot to flesh out their blends, but in previous decades barbera was used. Roberto likes to continue this.
di Filippo (2007) Sagrantino
"To get the good tannins, you need low yields natural farming." Roberto looks for brown seeds-- with sagrantino, green seeds are especially bitter, and if you pick the grapes to soon this bitterness shows up in the wine. But "if you pick when the seeds are brown and taste nutty, you catch them at phenolic ripeness and the tannins are much softer."
This is a rich, bold wine, with plenty of tannins-- but soft, plush tannins- beautiful & intense!
"To get the good tannins, you need low yields natural farming." Roberto looks for brown seeds-- with sagrantino, green seeds are especially bitter, and if you pick the grapes to soon this bitterness shows up in the wine. But "if you pick when the seeds are brown and taste nutty, you catch them at phenolic ripeness and the tannins are much softer."
This is a rich, bold wine, with plenty of tannins-- but soft, plush tannins- beautiful & intense!
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