Andrea Occhipinti staked his career on a grape almost everyone else had given up on: Aleatico di Gradoli, a local variety long relegated to sweet wine, which he chose to vinify bone dry.
Backstory
Occhipinti's fascination with Lazio's rare grapes became the subject of his master's thesis at the University of Tuscia. After finishing his studies in 2004, he set out to revive abandoned vine plots above Lake Bolsena and founded his estate the same year, building it around indigenous varieties on the edge of extinction.
The Region
The winery is at Gradoli, on the northwestern shore of Lake Bolsena in northern Lazio, about an hour north of Rome and close to the Tuscan border. Lake Bolsena is the largest volcanic lake in Europe, and the surrounding slopes carry mineral-rich, porous, well-drained volcanic soils that give the wines a smoky, stony, saline character. This is an overlooked corner of central Italy, far from the fame of nearby Tuscany, which is exactly what let its native grapes slip toward obscurity.
Vineyards & Farming
Occhipinti farms roughly five to six hectares of certified-organic vineyards at around 450 meters of elevation, on the volcanic slopes above the lake. He uses massal selection to preserve the genetics of his old local clones, harvests by hand, and excludes synthetic chemicals, relying on a reasoned use of copper and sulfur and taking scrupulous care over the fruit. Annual production sits around 15,000 bottles.
Winemaking
Fermentations are spontaneous, with indigenous yeasts and only minimal sulfites when needed. Occhipinti works in stainless steel and terracotta amphora, keeping wood and oak influence light to protect freshness and primary fruit. Some wines see extended skin contact, and where possible they are bottled without fining or filtration. He pitches the results as tradition meeting a little innovation, a deliberate effort to show what these grapes can do when taken seriously.
The Wines
The flagship is Alea Viva, a pure dry Aleatico billed as the first of its kind in Italy, peppery and red-fruited with a mineral edge. Alea Rosa is a cherry-pink Aleatico rosato. Arcaico is a structured red built on Grechetto Rosso, and Sottobanco is a skin-contact white from Procanico, honeyed and saline. Together they make a compelling case for Lazio's overlooked native grapes.
