Cantina Villa Sobrano, February 5, 2014

My friend Emanuela works at a rather new winery in Todi.  On a wet winter day I decided to pay her a visit.  She took me on a complete winery tour which even included tasting
the 2013 Grechetto right from the barrel. 

young Grechetto

 

Fresh Grechetto

inserting the batonnage instrument

Before tasting she first showed me how the batonnage was done, which was something I’ve heard about, but have never seen it done before or the instrument used to do it.

Batonnage is a ancient French winemaking technique, which in short is stirring the wine inside the barrels to bring it in contact with the lees/yeast which have rested on the bottom. 

This process is done once a day by the winemaker all winter. The instrument used to do this is a stainless steel curved bar that has a propeller shaped piece on the end.

vineyards

After a tour through the Agriturismo guest rooms and reading room with a library full of cool antique books,  we headed back to the main building where in the wine shop people were buying wine in bulk.

winemaker's quarters

antique books in the reading room of the villa

Up in the warm tasting room, the fire was crackling away while I tasted the 5 wines of Villa Sobrano. 

tasting room

I had the pleasure of meeting the owner  Mr. Giovanni Palmucci, who is a very nice man. 

Signore Giovanni Palmucci

The Grechetto di Todi is aged only in Stainless Steel tanks,  I found both wines very easy to drink and well balanced.  The Donna Sabina has a beautiful label, a drawing of the family members, done from an antique photo by my friend Francesca. 

The Donna Sabina, a fine example of oak aged Grechetto di Todi

She also did the Bartolomeo label which is another drawing, done on-site of the borgo of Villa Sobrano.

lounge of the tasting room

and the Donna Sabina has oak aging.

fine details of the Blue Room

cover of an old book in the library

main building which houses the wine shop & tasting room

Blue Room of the Agriturismo

For me the wine I enjoyed the most was the Pinot Bianco. 

wine shop with vats of wine which
can be bought by the liter

Umbria's only Pinot Bianco

To this day, this remains only Pinot Bianco produced in Umbria, quite unique and a wonderful example of the varietal.  Pinot Bianco is a very food-friendly wine so it’s a good staple to have in the fridge.  The winery also sells a white and a red by the liter, which are very affordable and good for everyday consumption.  Here again I preferred the white over the red.  I feel that the wines of Villa Sobrano have great potential and I look forward to putting them on the shelves of Vinosofia this spring.

details of the ancient tile floor
in the Agriturismo

at home, pasta with zucchini & grechetto