Wine Vitiano Bianco, Umbria IGT, 2007

The Falesco winery, owned by the brothers Riccardo and Renzo Cotarella, is located in Lazio, near Rome, near Lake Bolsena, in lands where wines were famous for their quality for centuries and were supplied to the courts of the Roman aristocracy and to the Vatican. The winery was founded in 1979. When in the late 1970s Ricardo Cotarella was looking for land to implement his plan, his choice, after a long study of the area and cultivated varieties, fell on the Poggio dei Gelsi vineyard, located on a lakeside slope, at an altitude of 400 meters above sea level. In addition to the exceptionally favorable position of the vineyard, facing southwest, and pebble soils, the oenologist was also attracted by the fact that ancient and rare varieties of white grapes were preserved in those places, including the once famous and almost extinct Rochetto. Falesco recently enriched his property with the acquisition of the Marcigliano estate, which occupies 260 hectares in the south of the picturesque hill of Orvieto in the municipality of Montecchio.

Both Cotarella brothers are oenologists. Riccardo Cotarella, one of the founders and owners of the Falesco Wine House, is a legendary figure in Italy. He was one of those who began the revival of Italian winemaking, working in almost all regions of the country. Today he advises 65 farms, including in France. However, unlike other “touring” oenologists of the first magnitude, Ricardo Cotarella, together with his younger brother Renzo, the general manager of the Antinori “empire,” has his own farm Falesco . His stellar wines, which year after year receive the highest ratings from peers, are perhaps the best proof of his skill. Riccardo Cotarella knows how to create wines both for meditation and to accompany dishes, which for the Italian mentality is perhaps more important than a self-sufficient product. In 2001, Ricardo Cotarella received the title of "Best Winemaker in Italy" , and in the same year, together with his brother Renzo Cotarella, the title of "Best Winemaker in the World" .