MARCO CARPINETI

Cori…I recently told my Italian teacher that when I come to visit her in Rome, I’d like to make a trip to Cori. She raised her eyebrows and even after repeating myself, thinking I had mispronounced the name, she still gave me a blank stare. Cori, a Medieval town in the forgotten hills of Lazio, just about 50km outside of Rome. This land is mountainous with ancient volcanic soils, particularly rich in tufo (tuft) and sea fossils, which also makes the soil calcareous. If you are at all familiar with wine and grape agriculture, and if you’re not now you are, volcanic, calcareous, and limestone are all soil buzzwords. Time and time again, these types of soils, combined with climatic conditions and altitude, as well as winemaking techniques of course, prove to produce grapes and therefore, wine of mineral and structural depth. We look to wines made from grapes grown in these soils for complexity and longevity. 

The wines from the Marco Carpineti Capolemole line grow in the commune of Cori, behind by the Lepini Mountains. Tradition and the value of time and work, makes their approach tireless and patient. They focus on native vines, and are of only a handful of producers that make wine with the Bellone grape.

The vines have south-east exposition and grow on the slopes of the Lepini mountains in the areas  of Capolemole, Pezze di Ninfa, and Valle San Pietro.  The Carpineti family has worked this land for generations and since 1994, they adopted organic viticulture. Herbicides, chemical fertilizers and synthetic products are not used and they have recently begun to incorporate Biodynamic practices. They cultivate the native Lazio varieties of Greco Giallo, Bellone, Moro, Nero Buono, and Cesanese. Montepulciano also grows here. While in the wine world we attribute Montepulciano’s origins to the Abruzzo, it is naive to think this grape could not be native and local to neighboring regions, such as Le Marche and Lazio. The Carpineti family boasts old vine Montepulciano in their territory, and despite the grape not having much of a reputation in Lazio, they choose to continue to cultivate it rather than rip up perfectly good, deep rooted, old vines.

Their Tufaliccio wine is an ode to the volcanic tuff soil that shapes its character— “iccio” sometimes “uccio” is a diminutive add on to the word that makes the word more affectionate, like a nick-name, and is very commonly used in the south of Italy.

All wines from the Capolemole line are spontaneously fermented with native yeasts.