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Conestabile della Staffa

Case Sparse Rosso 2018

Price: $29.95
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Tasting notes

This is a serve-it-chilled red that lands somewhere between a Gamay and a light Sangiovese: bright cherry fruit, a dusting of earth and spice, silky texture with no hard edges. The 3-day skin contact gives it just enough grip to stay interesting without weighing it down. Ciliegiolo's natural softness keeps the whole thing refreshing and easy to reach for.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
CherryWild StrawberryEarthBaking Spices
  • Style: Light-bodied red; bright ruby; cherry, earth, and spice; 3-day skin contact; no sulfites added
  • Grapes & Terroir: 70% Sangiovese, 30% Ciliegiolo; organically farmed; clay-calcareous soils; 250-300m elevation; Monte Melino, Perugia, Umbria
  • Winemaking: Spontaneous fermentation; 3 days skin contact; stainless steel aging; bottled in spring; no filtering, fining, or added sulfites
  • Serving: Serve at 55-60F (13-15C); no decant needed; drink now
  • Pairing: Tomato pasta, pizza, charcuterie, soft cheese, roasted vegetables, porchetta
  • Similar To: For fans of Gamay and light Sangiovese who want low-intervention Italian red

Case Sparse Rosso is a blend of 70% Sangiovese and 30% Ciliegiolo from the Conestabile della Staffa estate in Monte Melino, in the Trasimeno-Perugino subzone of Umbria. The vineyards sit at 250-300 meters above sea level on clay soils with a calcareous base, close to Lake Trasimeno. Vines on the 12-hectare property have never been treated with chemicals and are farmed organically.

Winemaker Danilo Marcucci uses spontaneous fermentation with just 3 days of skin contact, then ages the wine in stainless steel until bottling in spring. No fining, no filtration, and no added sulfites. The result is a wine that stays close to the fruit and the soil without technical intervention.

Ciliegiolo is named for the Italian word for cherry and brings soft tannins, juicy red fruit, and a slightly floral character to the blend. Sangiovese provides structure and a savory, earthy backbone. Together, the two grapes make a light-to-medium-bodied red that drinks well with a slight chill.

Danilo Marcucci relaunched winemaking at this historic estate in 2015, ending a gap that stretched back to 1956, when the family last produced wine on site. The estate had supplied grapes to the local co-op for nearly sixty years before Danilo, who married into the Conestabile della Staffa family, began vinifying on the property again.

Serve slightly chilled alongside tomato-based pasta, pizza, or a simple charcuterie board. The low tannins and bright acidity make it an easy match for soft cheeses, roasted vegetables, or herb-forward dishes like porchetta. It also works well on its own as a weeknight pour.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, Red Wine
Wine Style:, Light Body
Grapes:, Sangiovese, Ciliegiolo
Farming:, Organic
Vintage:, 2018
Alcohol:, 12%
Country:, Italy
Region:, Umbria
Appellation:, Umbria IGT
Bottle Size:, 750ml
Sugar Level:, Zero Added Sugar

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.


Important Compliance Requirements

FedEx and other carriers we might occasionally use can only deliver wine to customers who are 21 years or older. Someone must be at the address to receive the package, carriers don't just drop a package and leave. They must ensure the person receiving the wine is 21 or older.


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If you'd like to receive a refund for a package that was returned to us after FedEx made three delivery attempts, we can do that but we must keep a $20 refund fee; FedEx charges us a lot of money for returns, unfortunately, I can't stress this enough.


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Heat/Frost damage

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Placed an order. What next?

1. You will receive an order confirmation email with your order summary.*

2. As soon as your order ships from the warehouse, usually within 2-3 business days, this applies to all shipping rates, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with your tracking information. 2DAY shipping refers to shipping time; we still need 2-3 business days to prepare an order. We need to pick and pack, QA, add printed collateral, and palletize the orders.

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Returns Policy

If you are not satisfied with your purchase, please contact us at (424) 414-2040 or via e-mail at hello@primalwine.com between 9 am and 5 pm Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Sunday, we would like to understand and try to solve your concerns. We can offer refunds only as store credit.

Producer profile

Conestabile della Staffa

Conestabile della Staffa is a historic Umbrian estate in the hamlet of Monte Melino, in the province of Perugia. The property takes its name from two noble families: the Conestabile, who originated in Orvieto in the medieval period, and the Della Staffa, from Perugia. An arranged marriage in the early 1700s united the two families and their landholdings. At its peak in the 1800s, the estate covered over 700 hectares of mixed agricultural land, with more than 100 hectares under vine, and produced over 10,000 hectoliters of wine per vintage, making it the most prominent estate in the Trasimeno-Perugino area.

Wine production declined sharply after World War II as rural labor moved to the cities. The last vintage from the estate's old cellar was 1956. From then until 2015, the remaining vines were left largely untended and their fruit was sold to the local cooperative. Crucially, no agricultural chemicals were ever applied to the land during this dormant period. Today the estate farms over 12 hectares of vines, many of them planted in the early 1970s on their own rootstock. The vineyards sit at 250-300 meters above sea level on clay soils with a calcareous base, close to Lake Trasimeno.

Danilo Marcucci, who married into the Conestabile della Staffa family and works as a consultant winemaker across central Italy, relaunched estate winemaking in 2015. His approach eliminates laboratory inputs entirely: spontaneous fermentation, no temperature control, no filtration or fining, and no added sulfites. Rackings are performed in winter. The Case Sparse Rosso uses 3 days of skin contact and is aged in stainless steel before bottling in spring. Danilo has cited mentors including Lino Maga, Eduardo Valentini, and Vittorio Mattioli as formative influences on his winemaking philosophy.

Wine region

Umbria, Italy

Umbria is a landlocked region in central Italy, bordered by Tuscany to the west, Lazio to the southwest, and Marche to the east. It has no coastline and no international border, making it one of Italy's most geographically isolated wine regions. The landscape is predominantly hilly, with vineyards planted on terraces between 150 and 600 meters elevation. Soils vary across the region and include clay, limestone, sand, and marl. The climate is Mediterranean in character, with cold wet winters and dry sunny summers. The area around Lake Trasimeno, Italy's fourth-largest lake, benefits from a moderating microclimate that softens temperature extremes and supports even grape ripening.

Umbria has two DOCGs: Montefalco Sagrantino, focused on the indigenous Sagrantino grape, and Torgiano Rosso Riserva, based primarily on Sangiovese. The region also holds 13 DOCs, including Colli del Trasimeno, Orvieto, Montefalco, Torgiano, and Colli Perugini, plus 6 IGT designations, the broadest of which is Umbria IGT. Key native red grapes include Sangiovese, Sagrantino, Ciliegiolo, Canaiolo, and Gamay del Trasimeno (a local biotype of Grenache). White varieties of note include Grechetto, Trebbiano, and Malvasia. Many producers working in a natural or minimal-intervention style opt for the Umbria IGT classification, which imposes fewer restrictions on grape varieties and winemaking.

Frequently asked question

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.

Signature on delivery is mandatory for wine deliveries. Please make sure someone is at the shipping address to sign for the package.

If applicable, please consider delivering the package to a business address to ensure someone is available to sign for the package.

We also have the option of delivering the package to a Carrier's store for pickup. Please reach out to us to coordinate.

Carrier will try to delivery a package up to three times before returning the package to us.

See here our shipping policy.

If you miss a delivery and a package gets returned to us we have two options:

1) Reship the package right away: due to the very high cost of shipping and returns, we must charge a re-shipping fee to be determined based on package size and shipping destination.

2) Consolidate the returned package with your next order: this option is free of charge and it's the most popular option.

See here our shipping policy.

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