Palazzone has chosen for us.
By its irresistible beauty and limitless potential it persuaded us that Orvieto was a challenge that could be won, a challenge to realise the full potential offered by site and climate, even when that meant trying new methods and rejecting established ones. But the spirit of place, and the compulsion of history have provided boundaries within which we have exercised choice.
The family keeps our work together, through a subdivision of tasks it involves us all, but more than that we are united in the feeling that Palazzone provides us with more than physical home. We are always conscious of that special privilege that living and working at Palazzone bestows, and this sensation becomes even stronger when things get tough.
We accept the tradition of Orvieto Classico with its distinctive mix of grape varieties; we are happy to let the more immediate, fragrant Grechetto and the austere, earthy Procanico assert their character. We love the idea that the profile of a white wine from central Italy might stand out – graceful yet incisive, Mediterranean and at the same time with a closed structure. We are proud to be able to make a white wine that can be relied upon but where you can taste the difference from vintage to vintage, and we are pleased to offer wines that can be bought at a reasonable price.
Our idea of wine is intimately linked to the vineyard . It is from the vineyards themselves that we get lasting satisfaction .The varieties making up Orvieto Classico do not have the clear expressiveness of some “easy” grapes, therefore their margin of improvement is not so immediate, that is why the work in the vineyard is focused on continuity
rather than on miraculous choices.
It all started with the tasting of some home-made wines, when the estate was meant to produce wine for the household only.
We were struck by the integrity of a few white wines that, although made in a rudimentary way, had easily reached ten years of ageing. In the same way, we devised the first dessert wines from fleeting sensations experienced from some rustic wine. The process of fermentation adopted and the decision to market the wine only after adequate cellaring (they are never released before late spring) are linked to the complexity reached by Orvieto Classico with time. It changes under our very eyes, as it sheds its juvenile freshness and is transformed into a more complex expression it gradually unveils itself, never revealing all at once.
We have also tried our hand at an “important” red, which is how Armaleo was conceived . It will certainly remain a wonderfully satisfying experience, nevertheless we have learnt from it that we should also focus on the indigenous varieties. This is why we are determined to invest our energies in Sangiovese, although we know that the road ahead will be challenging just as it is when dealing with Orvieto wines. Yet staying at Palazzone means facing difficult challenges and indeed this is perhaps the only way we can return something to the place that has chosen us.
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01.
Giovanni and Lodovico Dubini in the cellar
02.
The cave for bottle aging |
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