Terroir

The French word terroir is difficult  to translate into other languages. Many are the definitions given for this term, but they only partially explain its real meaning. The best definition for the word terroir is the one given by the French Institut National des Appelations d'origine (INAO).

"Le terroir est un espace géographique délimité où une communauté humaine a construit, au cours de l'histoire, un savoir intellectuel collectif de production, fondé sur un système d'interactions entre un milieu physique et biologique et un ensemble de facteurs humains, dans lequel les itinéraires socio-techniques mis en jeu, révèlent une originalité, confèrent une typicité et engendrent une réputation, pour un produit originaire de ce terroir".
"The terroir is a geographically limited space where the human community has established during history, a collective intellectual production knowledge, based on a system of interactions between a physical and biological environment and the whole of human factors, within which the socio-technical itineraries involved reveal originality, give typicality and originate a reputation for a product  that is native of this terroir".

The concept of terroir can be extended to any agricultural and food product, but was originally created for wine and for the unique characteristics of the crus (specific French territory units from which come the best wines).
In the last few years it has become more common to accept that it is the work of  the oenologist that makes a wine good, giving more and more importance to the style of a cellar than to the cultural, social, economic, climatic and geomorphologic characteristics of a territory.
On the contrary, it is  the combination of soil, climate, vine, local knowledge, agronomic and oenological techniques together with a long and slow evolution, that makes a wine different, making it unique. The terroir transfers the characteristics of the territory to the bottle, thus allowing the wines to have their precise sensory profile. The Sagrantino takes its uniqueness from its terroir. For this reason we believe that the study of the terroir and the respect for it are crucial to the production and knowledge of a vine and of its wine. To preserve the terroir is also to preserve the taste of a wine.

Our wines express their strong relationship with the territory of Montefalco where they are produced.

Thanks to the constant commitment of our highly qualified staff and to the Research Project of the Arboreal Cultivations Institute of the Faculty of Agriculture of the Milan University, we are working to identify the agricultural and oenological techniques more suitable to the characteristics and to the needs of any single vine in relation to climate and to soil. Beyond the autochthonous ones like the Sagrantino, the Sangiovese and the Grechetto, which are the ultimate expressions of our terroir, the grape varieties we cultivate have been chosen on the basis of the climate and of the soil of the territory  of Montefalco.

This area is characterised by a continental climate, with warm and dry summers and cold winters with sporadic snowfalls and is characterised by highly calcareous, argillaceous terrain.
The highly clayey texture of the terrain determines wines rich in extracts, bright in colour and long ageing, the calcium content enhances high alcohol and intense perfumes.

Our company in its communication gives great importance to the concepts of terroir and of territory, thus providing the international consumer with a simple and effective instrument to understand the content of the bottle. Only through the words territory and terroir  you are able to make people understand and appreciate the typicality of the wines obtained from autochthonous vines. Through this going beyond the levelling of taste due to a rigid codification of the organoleptic description which almost only refers to the characteristics of international grapes like Chardonnay and Cabernet.