It doesn’t happen very often that I write about wines from Lazio.
This time, however, instinct took over and I decided to go and discover my territory more closely — that Lazio which still struggles to build a proper reputation for itself, whether because of a past too focused on quantity or because of a style of communication that has often not been exactly excellent. I don’t know whether the problem lies in the character of my fellow countrymen, but I don’t see a shared communication strategy; rather, I see interesting projects carried forward by individual producers.
One of these is Tenimenti Leone. I had instinctively had this impression, and I must say that taking a walk to Lanuvio turned out to be a very good idea, rewarded with a very interesting visit.
Tenimenti Leone is an estate that extends over 72 hectares, of which 34 are vineyards. A territory on the slopes of the Castelli Romani, just a step away from Lanuvio and Velletri, in a position from which, on a clear day like today, you can even see the promontory of Circeo and even Ponza.
You can clearly perceive the company’s desire to represent the territory in the best possible way, as well as to enhance and respect it down to the smallest details. A respect that you can already feel while walking through the vineyards. It is a pleasure to see everything in great order: the green manure between the rows, the tower dominating the estate, a clean and perfectly organized winery, the walls in front of the cellar where the stratification of the soil has been left visible, even the excavation for a project that will involve the creation of a multimedia room — also perfectly integrated with the morphology of the land.
What I perceive is the desire to enter into symbiosis with this territory and with everything that represents Roman identity. A concept that I also find in the labels of their wines. Sciccheria, Pischello, Roma Capoccia are some of the names of Tenimenti Leone’s wines. They are made with the grape varieties of this territory, while also trying to pursue other forms of research.
Personally I found “Core”, the Malvasia Puntinata, and “Roma Capoccia”, a blend of Bellone, Malvasia Puntinata, Chardonnay and Verdicchio, particularly interesting: two white wines characterized by a beautiful mineral note. The first with an extremely easy and flowing sip. “De Coccio” instead is my favorite, a wine with a different structure due to aging in amphora and then partially in barrique. As for the reds, Roma Capomunni is quite good — a blend of Montepulciano, Syrah and Merlot — gentle, with a beautiful fruit expression and equally balanced spice.
Tenimenti Leone is a young winery. The cellar still has many spaces waiting to be filled, but the prospects seem promising. It is strange, at least for me, to realize that the people carrying forward a project eager to represent this territory at its best are not originally from this territory. During this visit I was accompanied by Matteo Cipolla, also a “non-Roman”. A welcoming person, enthusiastic about telling the story of a territory and a project, perfectly at ease in this context.
So, if this is the result, chapeau!
www.tenimentileone.it
