Stevie Kim visits Argillae, the Bonollo family estate.

With a nod to Latin, Argillae highlights, right from its name, the territory where its grapes grow, split between local varieties and some international representations. Together with Giulia Di Cosimo, the owner of the winery and vice president of the Orvieto Wine Protection Consortium, we get a closer look at the flagship wines of the winery, starting with the Grechetto.

The Grechetto is perhaps the most important white grape of all Umbria. It is also among the most widespread, reaching as far as Lazio; of the seven labels available in our production, we will taste Grechetto, Panata, and Primo d’Anfora, for their representativeness within the brand. The focus of our winery is indeed to primarily promote white wines, which make up 90% of our production.

Wait a second: on the table, we see on display a beautiful sample of terroir, but it is not just ordinary clay.

Exactly, there are shells and fossils inside: they represent the mineral notes that contribute to the flavor of the wine. Back to the Grechetto, we have two varieties, the Grechetto di Todi and the Grechetto di Orvieto, with which we create our blend. What we have in the glass is a 2021 Grechetto, the latest available vintage: it was made entirely in steel containers, without any passage in barriques. It has a very characteristic and unmistakable almond aftertaste, which testifies to its tannic part; it’s as if this wine had the soul of a red!

This also influences the pairing potential it has as a wine, allowing it to pair well with meat. We produce about 10,000 bottles of it.

The second wine, on the other hand, what characteristics does it have?

The Orvieto Classico Superiore Panata comes from four selection processes that diminish the number of bottles we can produce, which is around 6,000. The Panata is a blend of Grechetto, Trebbiano, and Chardonnay, with fermentation that occurs partially in steel and partially in oak; it then remains for 12 months in the bottle. I almost forgot: the vintage is 2020.

It is a more complex, versatile wine that pairs perfectly with local food, definitely with fish dishes. As for international cuisine, I would avoid delicate raw fish dishes because of the structure of this wine, but I would pair it with servings of vegetable soup or even meat.

The third and final wine of the tasting is the Primo d’Anfora: where does this name come from?

First of all, we must say that the Primo d’Anfora is a new project for the winery. It has a particular significance as it is completely produced in amphora, in clay, in fact, the first of its kind, so to speak. It is a blend of Grechetto, Drupeggio, and Malvasia; the amount produced is really limited, so much so that each bottle is numbered. This is because we currently have only three amphoras.

We are drinking a glass of the 2018, but it is very young, with only four years of maturation, showing how much it can still grow. We think that the minimum aging should be fifteen years, but we don’t yet have certain data on this since its production started in 2016.

In conclusion, we remind readers that the Argillae winery is committed to sustainability, which ranges from using thinner glass to saving water. To listen to other episodes of “The Italian Wine Podcast,” stay with us by following us on Mamma Jumbo Shrimp.