Our dream dedicated to the production of wine comes from a great passion for wine and for our territories. A few years ago, my wife Michela and I were struck by the world of wine, we became sommeliers and started traveling trying to get to know the many Italian and foreign wineries. Every time we visited a company, we convinced ourselves more and more that our territory too had a lot to offer and this is how this project began to germinate in our heads.
My family has owned the company since 1988, covering 10 hectares of land, in the center of which they built their house, making it their garden to all intents and purposes.
My parents, like us, have always had a job other than agriculture, but they never wanted to give up the estate, sacrificing all the time possible to it: my mother is a French teacher and my father, like me, is a engineer.
After a long time invested in studying the territory, its composition and the quality of the grapes it continued to produce, Michela and I convinced ourselves that we could make wine expecting excellent results. The company is located on the slopes of the large volcanic apparatus of the Colli Albani, whose lands are the result of volcanic activity dating back to 360,000 years ago, in a position that is affected by the influence of the sea. The vineyards reside on the final volcanic products of the "Tuscolano Artemisio" phase, i.e. on soils made up of tuff with slag and lapilli, which give a decisive mineral imprint to the wines. The Colli Albani volcano has a very extensive caldera, which geographically falls within numerous municipalities of the Castelli Romani and makes it a real Super Volcano. Our choice in terms of production was the single variety; we have also chosen to vinify only native grapes, out of fidelity to our project, in which the enhancement of the territory is the central pillar. We firmly believe that a native grape can best express its characteristics in the soil on which it was born and has always lived.
We currently produce two labels, both in purity, the Libente and the Cleto. The “Libente” is a 100% dotted Malvasia and the “Cleto” is a 100% grechetto; the age of the vines that we currently vinify is 16 years; we also have other varieties ranging from 30 to 49 years old, with which we are planning a third label.
We have always cultivated our vineyards with care and respect, this year we obtained the ORGANIC CERTIFICATION (we have been using exclusively organic products since 2017), a right choice, since we have always worked with this philosophy and it seemed correct to also formally obtain the certification of our method of cultivation. The wines are born from a very careful selection of the grapes, which forced us in 2018 to reduce the number of bottles produced in the name of maintaining the quality standards that we have imposed on ourselves.
The bunches are harvested by hand in small crates and checked one by one. The vinification takes place in a natural way, without interventions in the cellar, since it is our great conviction that the wine is made in the vineyard and not in the cellar; our goal is to bring perfect grapes to the cellar as we absolutely do not want to resort to any subsequent help. The wines are aged in steel, we extend the permanence on the fine lees to at least 6/7 months.
In the vineyard, fertilization takes place through green manure (seeds of different species of plants and legumes are thrown which transfer some elements to the soil which are consumed by the plants during the year); the architecture of the plant is the Guyot. No chemical products are used in the cellar nor are products of animal origin used, used by many for clarification and protein stabilization. Since 2019 the vinification is of the natural type with indigenous yeasts and spontaneous fermentations. The quantities of sulphites are minimal (less than 50 mg/l). We make use of the precious collaboration of the oenologist Letizia Rocchi.
The name "Libente" comes from the union of the two winds that blow on our vineyards, the Libeccio and the Ponente. Since 2020, Malvasia has the name "Lavente".
The name "Cleto" is a tribute to Anacleto Fini, my father, who strongly backed the birth and continuation of the company since 1988; moreover, Anenkletos in Greek means blameless, irreproachable, a peculiarity that we find in continuity with the immediacy and the sincerity of this bottle.We are very happy with these first years: we immediately received excellent recognition, an important aspect that certainly gave us the energy to continue with even more conviction.
We are present on Facebook and instagram (emiliano fini winegrower) and our website is www.emilianofini.it