Winemaker Notes
Lapideus has a leaner, racier carriage than the broad-shouldered "Arboreus," with more filigree and a less overwhelmingly intense nose of apricots, cloves, and candied ginger.
Professional Ratings
-
Vinous
The 2021 Lapideus is a deep golden hue. Its perfumed bouquet boasts incense and spice drops, freshly sliced nectarines and hints of clove. This floods the palate with round and supple textures offset by salty minerality and crisp orchard fruits. The 2021 gains a spicier personality with each passing second. It mixes sweet and sour through the contrasting finale, as tangerine and lemon rind traces fade slowly. This is beautifully balanced and exotic, having spent thirty-four days macerating on the skins and finished at just 11% abv. Fantastic.
There are hundreds of white grape varieties grown throughout the world. Some are indigenous specialties capable of producing excellent single varietal wines. Each has its own distinct viticultural characteristics, as well as aroma and flavor profiles.
Centered upon the lush Apennine Range in the center if the Italian peninsula, Umbria is one of the few completely landlocked regions in Italy. It’s star red grape variety, Sagrantino, finds its mecca around the striking, hilltop village of Montefalco. The resulting wine, Sagrantino di Montefalco, is an age-worthy, brawny, brambly red, bursting with jammy, blackberry fruit and earthy, pine forest aromas. By law this classified wine has to be aged over three years before it can be released from the winery and Sagrantino often needs a good 5-10 more years in bottle before it reaches its peak. Incidentally these wines often fall under the radar in the scene of high-end, age-begging, Italian reds, giving them an almost cult-classic appeal. They are undoubtedly worth the wait!
Rosso di Montefalco, on the other had, is composed mainly of Sangiovese and is a more fruit-driven, quaffable wine to enjoy while waiting for the Sagrantinos to mellow out.
Among its green mountains, perched upon a high cliff in the province of Terni, sits the town of Orvieto. Orvieto, the wine, is a blend of at least 60% Trebbiano in combination with Grechetto, with the possible addition of other local white varieties. Orvieto is the center of Umbria’s white wine production—and anchor of the region’s entire wine scene—producing over two thirds of Umbria’s wine. A great Orvieto will have clean aromas and flavors of green apple, melon and citrus, and have a crisp, mineral-dominant finish.