The farm covers 150 hectares between gentle hills of tuff and rocks, within the Roma Doc area: the vineyards extend for 52 hectares, 8 hectares are planted with olive trees and 80 hectares are dedicated to the cultivation of cereals. We make wine exclusively from our own grapes, grown organically with passion, attention and respect for our territory, which we aspire to express in the most appropriate way.
The winery is located in the medieval village of Torre in Pietra Castle, where the existence of vineyards is documented since the sixteenth century, when the fund belonged to the family Peretti of Pope Sixtus V. The cellar – obtained by digging into the tuff hill behind the Castle – was already used in the 1500s for the production and preservation of wine.
In the 1930s the estate was acquired by Senator Luigi Albertini, director and owner of the newspaper Corriere della Sera at the beginning of the century, who led the decontamination of about 2,500 hectares, set up the Torre in Pietra milk company (an pioneering company that was the first to import black spotted cows from the United States into Italy) and strengthened its winemaking activities by expanding the existing cellar and planting new vineyards. The winery as it appears today was renovated in 1999.
Since the beginning of 2000 we have moved to organic farming our grapes and we are officially certified.
We believe in organic agriculture out of respect for our territory, which we try to express in the most natural and genuine way possible. This means we don’t alter the organoleptic structure of the wine and get the benefits in terms of quality for the wine we produce.
We grow our grapes without the use of genetically modified organisms or chemical additives (herbicides, pesticides or insecticides) and we are committed to limiting as much as possible the use of sulfur dioxide.
Since we have fewer weapons to defend from vine diseases, it is necessary to pay more attention to the different needs of each vineyard and this translates into better quality grapes and, consequently, into healthy and good wines.
The hills of tuff and rocks, located within the Roma DOC area at an altitude of 50m above sea level, enjoy a temperate Mediterranean climate and southwest exposure, helping to create an airy, bright and highly suited to the production of wine. There are two geological units that characterize the nature of the soil: the sedimentary formations, present in the flat areas and the volcanic ones that were formed by the complex of the Lazio Volcano at the end of the ancient Pliocene. The former have generated a soil consisting of a substrate of alluvial and marine sediments, such as sand, gravel and silt, while volcanic events have generated soils formed by various types of tuff, which are superimposed on ash and lava deposited in layers of considerable thickness and cemented to varying degrees.
Filippo Antonelli, producer of Sagrantino in Montefalco (Umbria), and his cousin Lorenzo Majnoni, whose family produces Chianti in the Val d’Elsa, manage the estate owned by their family owned since 4 generations.
Antonino De Gennaro Aquino is the oenologist responsible for production.
Ruggero Mazzilli is the technical consultant for the vineyards.
The vineyards are located on the first hills overlooking the Roman coast.
The vines are cultivated in rows with low spurred cordon for red grapes and in Guyot for white grapes: the red varieties are Sangiovese, Montepulciano, Cesanese, Syrah and Merlot, while the white varieties are Vermentino, Fiano, Malvasia Puntinata, Chardonnay and Trebbiano.
The vineyards are cultivated according to the dictates of organic farming, therefore neither fertilizers nor chemical pesticides are used.
The inter-row grassing and the summer thinning of any excess bunches are practiced in order to improve the quality of the grapes to harvest.
The land is slightly hilly, of Pleistocene origin, rich in marine sediments, partly sandy (used for white wines) and partly clayey (used for red wines).
The average altitude of the slightly hilly soils is 50 metres above sea level and the vineyards are mainly exposed to the south and west.
The mild, windy climate, which protects the grapes from mould and disease, ensures excellent quality grapes.