In the hills around Montefalco in Umbria, the Calcabrina family runs a working farm where vines, olive trees and a herd of roughly 300 goats share the same land. Wine here is one expression of a whole agricultural cycle rather than a stand-alone business.
Backstory
Fattoria Calcabrina is a small family-managed farm in the Montepennino area of Montefalco, in the province of Perugia. Diego Calcabrina, born in 1980, is the driving force of the operation together with his father, Angelo. Diego left an accounting path to return to the land, gradually building the farm up while keeping it small in scale. In 2007 the family committed to biodynamic agriculture.
The Region
Montefalco sits in the heart of Umbria, central Italy, a landscape of gentle hills best known for the powerful, tannic Sagrantino grape. The Calcabrina vineyards lie within the Sagrantino district, surrounded by olive groves and pasture.
Vineyards and Farming
The estate works only a couple of hectares of vines, farmed organically and biodynamically. Diego uses natural compost from the farm's own animals, works the land by hand and avoids synthetic chemicals. The farm is recognized for its goat cheeses as much as its wine, with the goats integral to the fertility of the whole property.
Winemaking
In the cellar Diego keeps intervention to a minimum. Grapes are hand-harvested and fermented spontaneously with their native yeasts. The wines are neither fined nor filtered, and are made with no added sulfites. Production is small.
The Wines
The range draws on indigenous and local grapes, including Sagrantino and Sangiovese for the reds and Grechetto, Malvasia and Trebbiano for the whites, bottled under playful labels such as Ciuf Ciuf, Foglio 11 and Foglio 61.