This article was first published at the beginning of 2020, while we were in the early days of the pandemic. My website was hacked during that period, and some articles never got republished automatically at the new website. So, here you can read about Cincinnato Winery again. The article was a part of the Italian Food, Wine, and Travel (#ItalianFWT) group theme in February 2020, namely Quality Cooperatives.
My first trip in January 2020 brought me to Cincinnato winery in Cori in the Latina area in Lazio.
Quality wine and cooperatives – can they go hand in hand?
Often, we think that wine produced by cooperatives is synonymous with low quality and mass production. The “cantine sociali” have and do play an important part in the Italian wine world, from north to south.
Well, if we think about the disaster with the fraud in the Oltrepó Pavese area (2020), where they have been counterfeiting IGP and DOP denominations, we might be less keen on talking about quality. The local cooperative of Canneto Pavese is the main “criminal” here. However, let us get back to focusing on Italian cooperatives and the production of quality wine.
The cooperatives are indeed an important part of Italian history. They are a place where people, local history and territory, and rural economy are closely connected to concepts such as local economy, ethics, sustainability, climate, and much more. A cooperative often employs people in rural and isolated areas, allowing them to remain in their home region. Some cooperatives give possibilities to immigrants and socially disadvantaged groups. (See Cooperative del vino, l’obiettivo è la sostenibilità ambientale, sociale, economica ed etica in Wine News and Il vino delle cooperative, un tesoretto da 4,3 miliardi in Il Sole 24 Ore)
A cooperative becomes an ecosystem all of its own.
Another interesting and important aspect of cooperatives is that they are comprised of many small and passionate growers who, together, can achieve much more than they would have been able to on their own. By pooling their forces, they can invest in equipment, conduct research, and market their products abroad, among other benefits. Lately, more and more cooperatives are also focusing on ensuring that their growers are organically certified.
We will discover more about this at the Cincinnato Winery in this article.
Cincinnato Winery, A Cooperative Focused on Native Grapes
When I got an email from Giovanna Trisorio from Cincinnato winery, where she asked me if I would be interested in visiting them, I was really hooked straight away. So far, I had not visited many wineries in Lazio, and I was interested in learning more.
Lazio is a region with a rich history where the Romans continued the viticultural tradition of the Etruscans to develop it further. Still, wine production in Lazio has been in the shadow of other Italian regions and still is to a certain extent. Everyone travels to Rome and knows Rome, but very few venture outside of the capital to explore other parts of this beautiful region.
Therefore, I was excited to have this opportunity to learn more about wine production in Cori, the Latina area of Lazio. It turned into a lovely day where Giovanna arranged for me to first visit Omina Romana winery near Velletri, and then continue to Cincinnato winery for a tour and tasting.
History
Cincinnato Winery was founded in 1947 when a group of grape growers and farmers decided to go together to start a winery. The winery has been named after Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, the Roman politician and military leader in the early Roman Republic. He was a figure and spokesperson for civic virtue.
The winery says they were named after Cincinnato because he, according to the legend, had an estate in Cori where he established himself in the fifth century B.C. To give even more value to the local town and its history, the winery has named their wines after historical persons, monuments, or events relating to Cori.
Cincinnato Winery is really a cooperative that fits the theme here like a glove because it’s aim is indeed to produce high-quality wines. Their focus is on being sustainable and taking care of the environment. The Cincinnato cooperative is of the belief that high-quality production benefits the member growers, making them earn more.
Let us dig a bit deeper…
Cincinnato Winery is a cooperative
- very dedicated to safeguarding the environment;
- focused on being sustainable (using a photovoltaic system, using natural gas for their vehicles and machines, etc);
- focused on the cultivation of native grapes;
- with 107 member growers that are cultivating 100 hectares in total, half of them organic;
- that pays its member growers according to quality parameters;
- has been investing in research and innovation for about 20 years to improve quality:
- whose wines contain lower sulfite levels than the standard
- that, in general, is focused on producing white wines, even though they now also produce high-quality red wines.
Cincinnato winery has worked hard on valorising the native grapes in the area, such as Bellone, Nero Buono, and Cesanese, as well as Malvasia del Lazio and Greco (a sub-variety that is only cultivated in Lazio). Let us find out a bit more about these native grapes.
Native Grapes to Lazio
Bellone is a grape that was mentioned already by Pliny the Elder as a special grape for making high-quality wine and is cultivated mainly in the provinces of Rome and Latina. Bellone is a fairly productive grape, though irregular in its productivity, and it gives fresh, mineral, and fruity white wines.
According to Ian D’Agatha, there is a scarcity of Bellone plants in areas such as Castelli Romani to produce monovarietal Bellone wines, while this is not the case around Cori in the Latina area. There, producers such as Cincinnato Winery and Marco Carpineti are producing very interesting Bellone wines.
It is believed that Bellone stems from Uva Pantastica, which was also mentioned by Pliny the Elder, though there, furthermore, seems to have been a group of grapes denominated Belli in ancient Rome to which Bellone might have belonged. All these are suppositions only.
Moreover, just as the Bombino Bianco in Emilia Romagna, Bellone has also been referred to as Pagadebit due to its high productivity. Other names for Bellone are Arciprete, Cacchione, and Pampanaro.
Nero Buono is considered to have been brought to the area around Cori by Cincinnato when he settled at an estate there. This is part of the legend, and there is no concrete evidence of this. After genetic analyses were conducted, it was found that Nero Buono is not related to any of the main cultivars. Furthermore, according to Ian D’Agatha, Nero Buono is a very productive grape, even though quite irregular in its yield, just as Bellone it seems. (See Ian D’Agatha, Native Wine Grapes of Italy, pp.371-373)
Nero Buono is a local grape that is especially close to the heart at Cincinnato Winery, and they have put a lot of research and effort into reviving this grape variety. They were the first winery to produce a monovarietal Nero Buono wine. This grape is generally called Nero Buono di Cori, or was so until the EU decided against using place names for grape varieties and wines. Today, there is a small group of producers that make Nero Buono wines, for example, Marco Carpineti.
Both Bellone and Nero Buono thrive in volcanic soil. Did you know that Cori rests on volcanic soil from the Vulcano Albano, which is now what makes up the Colli Albani in Lazio? And it stretches from the Castelli Romani towards the Velletri and Cori area.
Of course, Cincinnato Winery also produces a Cesanese wine. Cesanese is the red grape that somehow defines Lazio, and that just as Bellone was mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his writings. Cesanese is grown all over Lazio, though its core area is around Castelli Romani, especially in the communes of Cesanese and Affile.
Wines from Cincinnato Winery
Here I will talk about two of the wines that Cincinnato Winery produces.
Enyo Lazio IGP 2017
Enyo is a 100% Bellone wine and a selection of their best Bellone grapes. The Bellone grapes here are also a bit overripe. It does a maceration on the skins for about 12 hours and malolactic fermentation. The juice matures in steel tanks for one year. It is a fresh, mineral and beautiful wine with mainly fruity and citrusy notes. On the palate, it is very smooth and elegant. A lovely expression of the local territory.
The name comes from Enyo, who was a goddess in Greek mythology as well as the sister and companion of the god of war, Ares. The equivalent in Roman mythology was Bellona, the goddess of war.
Ercole Lazio IGP 2015
Giovanna told me that Nero Buono can have notes that seem a bit ‘selvaggio’, i.e. savage, meaty, that make you think of earth, blood, wilderness. Also, the fresh and mineral notes are very typical of the Nero Buono. Rather than fruity, it has more of a touch of darker fruits, undergrowth, and forest. Though I really liked the Polluce Lazio IGP 2017, which is a 100% Nero Buono matured only in steel for its clean notes, I am going to talk about the Ercole Lazio IGP here.
Ercole Lazio IGP (I believe it was 2015) is a selection of the best grapes from 10 vineyard plots belonging to 10 different member growers. It is aged for one year in both tonneaux and barrique. It is a structured and mineral wine with fruity, spicy, herby notes as well as a touch of undergrowth, rose petals. It also has a sweeter note of chocolate or cocoa. A very enjoyable red wine.
