Umbria, this evocative Italian region considered as the green heart of Italy, homeland of Saints and Heroes, has a very long history and traditions about enology and it still has a prestigious fame because of its wines, Umbria surely is one of the many having a leading role in the wine scene of the world. One of the many leading wineries of Umbrian enology is Terre de' Trinci which is aiming for quality wines and for quality in production techniques and has achieved excellent results in a relatively short time, these results are surely confirmed by its wines. Terre de' Trinci was the first Umbrian winery, and the second in Italy, to get and apply the certified quality standards UNI EN ISO 9002.

Dr. Lodovico Mattoni, president of Terre de' Trinci and one of the fathers of dry Sagrantino

 After having crossed the Umbrian roads, from Perugia to Assisi and then Foligno, pleased by the evocative views of this green Italian region, we get to the Terre de' Trinci winery, in Foligno, and we are welcomed by Dr. Lodovico Mattoni, president of the winery. Dr. Mattoni, a truly kind and remarkable person, has a long experience about enology and before becoming president of Terre de' Trinci, he was the managing director of Enopolio di Foligno, the former winery from which the present business was born. Besides this, Dr. Mattoni has been one of the fathers of that brilliant idea of making wine from the Sagrantino grape as dry instead of passito, as opposed to the local and ancient tradition, and thus creating one of the most striking success of the Umbrian enology as well as contributing to give a new light to Umbrian wines worldwide.

 Terre de' Trinci is a relatively young winery, it was established in 1992 from the Enopolio di Foligno and, in less than ten years, they accomplished excellent results, in the beginning their fame was just local and in a short period of time the success has been internationally acclaimed. Dr. Mattoni tells us a significant profile «Terre de' Trinci was established in 1992 because of the wishes of some local viticulturists that were interested in making wine from their grapes. Now we produce 15000 quintals of grapes (1653 US tons) all gathered from our estates, we do not buy either grapes or wine from anyone, the wine we make is exclusively produces with grapes coming from our vineyards, about 250 hectares (about 617 acres) located in the Foligno, Bevagna, Montefalco and Gualdo Cattaneo areas. Terre de' Trinci mainly produces Sagrantino di Montefalco, Rosso di Montefalco and Rosso di Montefalco Riserva, Colli Martani Grechetto and Grechetto IGT. Lately we also started selling two new wines: Cajo and Luna. Cajo, which has been produced since three years, was created because we wanted to revalue viticulture outside the Montefalco DOC area which is particularly suited for vine cultivation and hence for wine production. Cajo is produced with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Sagrantino grapes, the latter cultivated outside the Montefalco DOC area. After two years of experiments and encouraged by the excellent results, the wine was first sold in 1997 and since then it is having a striking and lasting commercial success. Expectations for this year's vintage, which will be available in 2004, are for a production of 100000 bottles, and we expect, according to our plans, to raise the production to 150000 bottles in the next years. Cajo is aged for 18 months, part in large casks and part in barriques, then follows bottle aging for about six months. Wood aromas of the wine are quite moderate, according to our winery's philosophy. In 1996 we have been awarded certification for quality standards UNI EN ISO 9002, and we have been the first winery in Umbria and the second in Italy to receive this award. I want to state precisely that Terre de' Trinci is a winery which exclusively aims for the quality of its wines and our production is having a decreasing trend in favor of quality».

 Terre de' Trinci's headquarter is in Foligno, near Montefalco, homeland of the excellent Sagrantino, an extraordinary grape renowned in the world for its unmistakable qualities, capable of producing full bodied and well structured wines, either dry or passito. Producing Sagrantino and being in the Montefalco area has a strategic role for the winery as told by Dr. Mattoni. «The winery is located in Foligno, outside the Montefalco DOC area, however our vineyards are in the DOC area. Sagrantino gave us the opportunity for new investments, to introduce new production technologies, renew our wine making systems and storage. In the last four years we invested one million of euros (a million US dollars) on technologies in favor of quality production where Sagrantino di Montefalco and Rosso di Montefalco are leading the way».

	History of Sagrantino: on the left a rare bottle dated 1972, a 1973 on the center and a 1975 on the right

 Sagrantino, this extraordinary grape that is traditionally used to make a passito wine after having allowed grapes to partially dry on mats, has been drunk by the inhabitants of the area for centuries as well as nowadays, is usually and traditionally matched with robust, succulent and spicy foods. The history of dry Sagrantino di Montefalco is quite recent and Dr. Mattoni is one of the protagonists of this important intuition. He tells us this important story, how everything started and evolved in one of the most significant events of the local enology: «Sagrantino was traditionally produced as passito and in scarce quantity and it was not much known outside the Montefalco area. Sagrantino passito, as opposed to what one may think, it is not a dessert wine, it is a robust wine and according to the local tradition, it is mainly drunk during the Easter day, matched with roasted lamb meat, robust roasted meats, hard cheeses and, last but not the least, can be considered as a meditation wine. Sagrantino Passito has a lightly sweet flavor, a lovely sapid and sweet taste and its potent tannins easily and perfectly clean the mouth even after having eaten robust meals; I do not agree much the idea of matching Sagrantino passito with desserts. In 1970 Sagrantino was exclusively produced as Passito and it was rapidly disappearing. At those times, it was 1972, I was just graduated and I was hired out as a managing director by the Enopolio di Foligno, the former winery from which Terre de' Trinci was born, and together with enologist Daniele Spinelli, Dr. Marcello Tassi, agronomist and inspector of the Agricultural Bureau of Umbria, and Prof. Nestore Iacovone of the Agronomy Faculty of the University of Perugia, we accomplished in this winery the very first experiments of dry Sagrantino made from non-dried grapes. The grapes were provided by the vineyards of Mr. Angelo Fongoli's farm in Montefalco. In our winery's offices we still have and keep as a historical memory, some bottles of dry Sagrantino dated 1972, 1973 and 1975 and they prove this winery was the very first one to make Sagrantino this way. The real pioneer of making Sagrantino wine using non dried grapes was Dr. Tassi; at those times started introducing this brilliant idea and after the first encouraging results of the 1972, we promptly requested the DOC appellation status to the Italian Administration, the DOC was awarded in 1979. The preliminary draft of the Sagrantino di Montefalco DOC was written by Prof. Iacovone. In the beginning the wine had harsh and not much elegant tannins, with time we greatly improved this wine, also thanks to the new wine making technologies, and nowadays it has smooth and pleasing tannins also because of the aging techniques adopted as well as a proper bottle aging. Today Sagrantino di Montefalco is known and renowned all over the world».

 Talking about Sagrantino, current production for this wine, either as passito or dry, represents about 15% of total production, where the production of passito is about 4500 bottles. Production is expected to raise in the next years and we are planning the production to raise soon at 30% and within the yars 2004-2005 our plans are for a production of Sagrantino at a 50% of total production. Talking about past vintages of Sagrantino, Dr. Mattoni recalls: «1992, Terre de' Trinci's year of establishment, was a hard year for us because Sagrantino grapes were not considered of good quality and we decided not to make any wine from them. 1995 and 1997 have both been excellent years whereas the 1999, soon available on the market, has excellent qualities and I think it will be an exceptional wine. 1999 was a great vintage because July was quite hot and at the end of the month it providentially rained then followed sunny days. The result was an excellent vintage». Talking about next vintage and this year's yield «2002 will probably be considered as a great year because July was hot and it also rained; those rains were surely determinant for the vines. 2002 vintage will be available in 2005». Talking about Terre de' Trinci's marketing and about the countries where its wines are sold, Dr. Mattoni says «in the beginning of our business, Terre de' Trinci was mainly present in the local market, even though our production was low, today we are present all over Europe, in the USA, part of Canada, in Japan and in China».

A view of Terre de' Trinci's cellar. In these barriques Sagrantino patiently ages and wait for time to make its course

 Talking about Terre de' Trinci's new wines, Luna and Cajo, Dr. Mattoni, once again, explains us the meaning of these particular names «the names were chosen because they are related to our winery. Terre de' Trinci is named after the Trinci's family, ancient lords of Foligno whose origin was probably Longobard, they governed the city of Foligno from 1305 to 1493. The Trinci family was the proprietor of the estates where today we cultivate our vines and this is the reason why we named our winery like that. The name Luna (“moon” in Italian), has been chosen because of a painting of Gentile da Fabriano. The painting is in the Trinci's Palace, in Foligno, a beautiful palace I strongly suggest everyone to see and visit. Cajo was the name of a Roman Emperor, Cajo Mario, depicted in a fresco of the Giant's room in Trinci's Palace. As the wine is vigorous as well as it was Cajo Mario, we thought his name was well suited for our wine. Luna is the last wine created by Terre de' Trinci. We needed a prestigious white wine and, after two years of experiments, the wine has been released last year for the first time with a production of 3000 bottles. Luna is produced with Chardonnay, about 15%, and Grechetto, a local grape of Umbria. Terre de' Trinci believes in revaluation and utilization of local grapes. This wine is aged for a short time, about three months, in light toasted barriques and this gives the wine a pleasing and lovely vanilla aroma. Cajo is an IGT wine produced with Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Sagrantino, in about equal quantities, according to vintage conditions and yields. This wine is the result of a blend of more wines, as every grape reaches full maturation in different times. Grapes are separately processed and we make wine from each of the three varieties, then the wines are assembled and they are aged for about one year in large casks as well as in barriques. The aging is completed with a period of six months in bottle»

 Terre de' Trinci also has a dedicated tasting room where customers can personally evaluate and taste wines and they can also buy wines directly from the winery.

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