{"title":"Piccolo Podere del Ceppaiolo","description":"\u003cp\u003eAt the foot of the hill that rises toward Assisi in Umbria, Danilo Marcucci and Riccardo Pennaforti tend one of the region's most ancient surviving vineyards. Their property, Piccolo Podere del Ceppaiolo, is tiny by any measure: 1.7 hectares in total, with the original white parcel comprising just four rows of vines trained on a double guyot system that predates modern viticulture in the area. The work here is driven not by ambition for scale but by a commitment to preserve what exists: the vines, the varieties, and the uninterrupted relationship between this specific soil and its fruit.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMarcucci and Pennaforti took on the Ceppaiolo vineyard as a preservation project, recognising that its combination of old vines, rare local varieties, and hands-off farming was increasingly rare in Umbria. The white parcel contains vines over 70 years old, trained on the historic palmetta system across two levels. A red wine parcel of under one hectare was added more recently, expanding the range with Umbrian native red varieties.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMore on how they farm and work in the cellar in our \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/natural-wine-producers-primal-wine\/piccolo-podere-del-ceppaiolo\"\u003ePiccolo Podere del Ceppaiolo producer profile\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"ceppamatto-danilo-marcucci-umbria-red-wine","title":"Piccolo Podere del Ceppaiolo Ceppamatto 2015","description":"\u003cp\u003eCeppamatto is a field-blend red from Piccolo Podere del Ceppaiolo, a 1.7-hectare property near Bastia Umbra in the province of Perugia, just outside Assisi. The red-grape parcel — roughly one hectare of the total — sits on calcareous clay soils at elevations up to 400 meters above sea level, planted with indigenous varieties including Vernaccia Rossa, Sangiovese, Aleatico, and Nebbiolo di Gubbio. The vines are up to 70 years old and have never been treated with synthetic chemicals.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWinemaking at Ceppaiolo is deliberately stripped back. Fermentation is spontaneous with indigenous yeasts, followed by approximately 10 days of skin contact. The wine is then aged in cement, with no fining, no filtration, and no added sulfur at any stage. The only technology in the cellar is a vintage vertical press dating to the 1950s.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDanilo Marcucci, who trained alongside Friuli's Radikon and spent time studying the late Edoardo Valentini's approach in Abruzzo, leads the project with his partner Riccardo Pennaforti. Ceppaiolo functions as their most experimental site — grapes are tasted each harvest and decisions about the wine are made vintage by vintage. Production is extremely limited.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCeppamatto is bottled as IGT Umbria. At 12.5% ABV it sits at the lighter end of the spectrum for central Italian reds, with the elevated acidity and mineral tension characteristic of old vines on limestone-clay at altitude.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Piccolo Podere del Ceppaiolo","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":12907010916407,"sku":"CEPPMATT15C","price":36.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0019\/3363\/9735\/files\/ceppamatto-rosso-natural-wine-natural-wine-primal-wine-copyright.png?v=1788016225"}],"url":"https:\/\/primalwine.com\/collections\/piccolo-podere-del-ceppaiolo.oembed","provider":"Primal Wine","version":"1.0","type":"link"}