CANTINA ORTACCIO
ITALY, LAZIO, GRADOLI

Since joining us for Bedrock at the start of the month and pouring their new arrivals for the first time in the UK, we're very glad to make available the new 2023 releases from Patrizia & Max at Cantina Ortaccio.

Perched above Lake Bolsena, Cantina Ortaccio is their project farming a total of four hectares of vines around Gradoli and Latera in Lazio. At 450–500m, on soils of tufa, volcanic rock and sand, Patrizia & Max tend parcels both old and new. Among the parcels are vines planted by Massimo's grandfather in 1948; other old vines abandoned by the village elders that the couple have restored; and their newer plantings of local varieties.

Working mostly with Procanico, Greghetto, Sangiovese, Grechetto, Malvasia, and Ciliegiolo: Ortaccio is a project dedicated to expressing the heart of the remarkable terroir of Latera and Gradoli. The memory of each harvest with his grandfather and the lightning bolt of those pure, humble wines has been an inspiration to Massimo since he was 12 years old.

Work in the vines is committed and minimises impact: 'less is more' is the motto here. Practising a no-till organic agriculture, the pair never work the soil, tasks are tended by hand and in recent vintages they have applied no treatments at all. Come springtime time the parcels explode with a cover of poppies, chamomile, St. John's wort, nettle and chicory.

In the cellar - located in the centre of town, beginning at ground level and descending directly into the limestone - Massimo is simply trying to get as close as he can to the wines he helped his Grandfather make as a young boy. Nothing is added at any stage, red and white varieties are all treated the same: de-stemmed and macerated gently then aged in chestnut and oak barrels for 10 months in the caves.

2023 was a cooler, wet vintage around Bolsena, producing delicate, detailed wines of real elegance and balance. Photos are from our visit shortly after harvest completed in November 2023