Collecapretta, Buscaia 2023

Malvasia Traditional & Malvasia Candia

Organic

Umbria, Italy

Direct-press white wine obtained from two different strains of Malvasia; the traditional strain with a tight bunch and thick skin, and the “Candia” strain with a loose bunch, and a large and delicate grape. Both are harvested at the beginning of October and are vinified through spontaneous fermentation in stainless steel tanks without temperature control for 10 days. Wine goes through first racking with the February moon, with a further racking at the end of March to prepare the wine for bottling in early April. No sulfur is added at any stage. “Buscaia” was the nickname of Annalisa’s Grandfather, who worked as a minatore (miner).

The Mattioli family has been in the tiny hamlet the Roman's once called Collecapretta (hill of the goats) since the 1100's. For generations the Mattioli have been cultivating the rugged hillsides of southern most Umbria. Located just outside of Spoleto, in the near-impossible-to-find borgo called Terzo la Pieve, today's farm is a scant 8 hectares in total; 2 planted to a mixture of local olives trees, 2 ha of farro and other ancient grains and  ~ 4 ha of indigenous old vines. Vittorio Mattioli, his wife Anna and their daughter Annalisa live together with 3 generations of their family inside the tiny village overlooking the valley below with the high Apennine Mountains and Gran Sasso looming in the background. The elevation is some 500+ meters and the soils are a mixture of calcium and iron rich clay with outcroppings of tufo and travertine limestone. Though the total production of Collecapretta is only some 8000 bottles in a good year, the family chooses to vinify many different cuvee's in hopes of expressing the vineyard and grape varieties at their best.