Roberto Mascelloni talks about his Orcia Doc Winery, Poggio al Vento

In his winery Roberto Mascelloni produces organic grape varieties such as the traditional Foglia Tonda for which the producer has great plans

My eighth stop on a journey to discover the “faces” of Orcia doc wine took me wandering around the paths of the territory listed as a UNESCO heritage site, the birth place of “the most beautiful wine in the world”. After following a long white dirt road which leads to the castle of Ripa d’Orcia I arrived at a suggestive locality called Poggio al Vento. It was a typical autumn day, foggy and raining when I reached Roberto Mascelloni’s winery. Roberto kindly took me to visit his estate and in the tasting room next to a welcome open fire he started to tell me his story.

Roberto Mascelloni talks about his Orcia Doc winery

“This is Poggio al Vento (the windy hilltop) where my organic winery is situated. It is a family run property where we have been producing Orcia doc wine since 2000, more or less since the debut of the denomination. The logo on the label shows an archer because of my passion for archery:  for 10 years I took part in the yearly archery competitions in the historical representations of the Barbarossa celebration in San Quirico d’Orcia.

Here we are 500m above sea level and the soil is good for the cultivation of international grape varieties such as Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon as well as the local varieties of Sangiovese and Foglia Tonda.

The president of the Orcia Wine Consortium, Mrs Cinelli Colombini advised me to use Foglia Tonda, an ancient variety , after studying  this typical local plant. My 4.5 hectares of organic vineyard produce two delicious red wines, “Arcere Orcia Doc”  and an organic “Sangiovese “after an accurate manual selection of the grapes and ageing in French oak barrels. Then there is an organic IGT Tuscan wine and the grappa obtained from the marc after wine making. Our two types of Extra Virgin Olive Oil are also organic. All these products can be tasted by the guests staying in our farm house accommodation (agriturismo) which is composed of 5 apartments and a swimming pool from where there is a breathtaking view.

We produce about 15,000 bottles of wine though my idea is to improve the quality of the Foglia Tonda variety and increase its production. This project is not only because of the historic importance of the vine but because together with Sangiovese I am able to make the wine more characteristic, with greater structure and more intense color and fragrances.”

“A project is the future” (Giorgio Gaber)

WATCH THE VIDEO OF ROBERTO MASCELLONI’S ORCIA DOC WINERY

Visita alla cantina Orcia Roberto Mascelloni di Poggio al vento a Castiglione d’Orcia

In visita alla cantina di Roberto Mascelloni a Castiglione d’Orcia dove si coltivano vitigni biologici come il tradizionale Foglia Tonda e si pensa a grandi progetti futuri