Wine route

The geographical area devoted to the production of Amelia DOC Wine extends over the hills located in the southwest of Umbria, in an adequately ventilated, bright territory with soils rich in substances favorable to vine culture.
The Amelia DOC tells the story of where the wine comes from, how it is processed, its historical origins and the characteristics that identify it in a well-defined territory, the Amelia territory precisely.
The grape varieties of the Amelia DOC, In fact, Ciliegiolo, Grechetto, Long White Malvasia, Merlot, Sangiovese, and Trebbiano Toscano have unique characteristics both in terms of modest acidity content and in terms of fragrance and color.
From Amelia down to Jupiter and then up to Montecastrilli, the proposed itinerary to learn about the wine of the most typical Amerino, draws almost a diagonal line on the map.
In this little sensory journey, even if the goal is “alcoholic,” other cues will naturally open up and other senses will be activated, thanks to a continuous appearance of beautiful landscapes…because you can get drunk on them, too!
In Amelia, the center of this ideal line of our journey, along the Provincial Road 8, the Zanchi Winery end the Pizzogallo Winery are a must for two reasons: the first of course is their excellent wine production, and the second concerns their geographical location because from the top of their estates there are truly breathtaking views.
The Zanchi Winery is a reference point in its land for the production of DOC and IGT wine, and as true “custodian farmers,” the Zanchi family carries on both the project of recovering ancient local vines including Malvasia, Ciliegiolo, Canaiolo (ancient and more rustic clone), Grechetto, Trebbiano, Procanico, and Sangiovese, and restoring old vineyards, some from the ”80s and ’90s.
The Zanchi winery is located along the Germanic Way, and this may be a good reason to trek here given the opportunity to refresh yourself at a winery with so much choice and that has much to tell!
The Pizzogallo estate, overlooks a piece of unspoiled Umbria, and from there, the view crosses regional borders reaching as far as Mt. Cimino. Pizzogallo has a younger winery with two lines: the DOC with varietals processed in purity Ciliegiolo, Sangiovese and Merlot and the IGT line dedicated to the winds, consistent with the winery logo (Pizzogallo is the wind marker). The family history related to wine begins in 2000 with the purchase of the estate, but the land was already home to vines at least 30 years old. So here, too, history thanks to wine is reunited with the present!
We now descend south by taking SP31 and after a few curves, we reach Jupiter.
Before arriving in the village and admiring the imposing castle/palace that dominates the Tiber Valley from above, almost coinciding with the entrance to the SP85, we stop at another winery for another typical Amerine stop in the Sandonna Winery.
In order to take full advantage of the geological and climatic potential of the Sandonna plateau from which the winery takes its name, indigenous varieties, even here, have become protagonists: Ciliegiolo, Grechetto and Merlot are the grape varieties with territorial references proposed by the winery, to which Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is added with a stronger character. All managed with practices related to the criteria of the organic method.
Worth a visit is the village of Giove from whose walls looking out you can see Orte, Orvieto and the Cimini Mountains in the background. If you have some time and are fond of walking, a few years ago the Valentine’s Way, an 8-km-long route that from the historic center of Jupiter passes through the town’s sights and then continues on the old road to Attigliano to Torricella.
But to go back up the ideal line of our route to Montecastrilli, it is necessary to take the car. The SP9, nature trail among fields, holm oaks and mountains in the distance, leads us to the Le Poggette Farm, an old farm whose stables are now used for wine production.
Here it is a must to ask Franco, the farmer, if you can visit the barriccaia, an almost sacred space where silence seems to be indispensable to the wine fermentation process.
The Montepulciano, Grechetto, Sangiovese and Canaiolo vines, visible from the estate, live in a sheltered basin with a microclimate that characterizes their production.
In this journey that we will say “intoxicating,” at every single winery visited there is the producer, there is a story, there is a knowledge that communicates attention to detail, reappropriation and respect for places, the will to make quality…there is a bottle, a piece of Umbria to take away.