Podere Palazzo — An Organic Winery in the Heart of Romagna at #ItalianFWT
When my friend Lynn Gowdy said they had chosen Emilia-Romagna as a regional theme for the #ItalianFWT during the month of September, I asked to write an article about Podere Palazzo, an organic winery in the heart of Romagna, for the group.
Having swung by Emilia-Romagna a month ago to visit a couple of wineries, Enio Ottaviani winery and Braschi — Vigne e Vini, I thought the timing was just perfect to share my discoveries with all of you.
This month, the wine and food writers in the Italian Food, Wine, and Travel (#ItalianFWT) group head over to virtually discover more about the Emilia-Romagna region. Emilia-Romagna is a multifaceted region with valleys (47.8%), hills (27.1%), and mountains (25.1). And, not to forget, the seaside along the Adriatic coast. For people abroad, Emilia-Romagna is probably most well-known precisely for its seaside resorts along the Adriatic coast (at least for Scandinavians) as well as for its rich culinary culture and wine production.
Podere Palazzo — a mix of tradition and innovation
Podere Palazzo winery is situated on the hill Carpineta between Cesena and the Rubicone valley. It is an organic family winery where tradition, passion, creativity, and an eye for research and development are key denominators.
The present owners entered the picture in 2008. Their agronomist who manages the daily activities is Fabio Burroni. His philosophy is to as far as possible work towards sustainability, thus trying to limit the consumption of energy and water as well as favoring the biodiversity and wildlife in relation to the viticulture.
The estate comprises 10 ha of vineyard where they cultivate indigenous as well as international grape varieties. More precisely they grow the indigenous grapes Albana, Bombino Bianco, Trebbiano della Fiamma, Lambrusco, and Sangiovese, as well as the more international grapes Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Petit Verdot.
Enoica
Podere Palazzo is one of the boutique wineries that are a part of the Enoica Group. Enoica is an “agricultural supply-chain system”, as they define themselves, where the Enoica team provides knowledge and support. They have implemented a system where logistics, marketing, and sales are centralized under Enoica and the quality control is improved.
In Italy, where many wineries are small and family run, it can often be difficult for them to manage everything on their own. Therefore, this is a clever and important initiative to share know-how and support each other in those areas such as logistics, marketing, and sales that can be cost- and time-consuming.
The Podere Palazzo Wines
For the #ItalianFWT chat, they were so kind to send me three of their different wines, namely Rivola Bianco Rubicone IGT 2016, Ramato della Fiamma Bianco Rubicone IGT 2013, and Don Pasquale Sangiovese di Romagna Superiore DOC 2014. As I was about to leave for Sweden when they arrived, I brought two of the wines with me here. In this article, I will thus talk about Ramato della Fiamma and Don Pasquale.
What do we know about Ramato della Fiamma?
Ramato della Fiamma is the name of the wine but Podere Palazzo also talks about it as the name of the grape variety. At first, it threw me a bit off course because I had never heard of this grape variety.
So, I was thinking: am I ignorant, or what?
Then I started reading up on it and realized that it is the grape variety Trebbiano Romagnolo that also goes under the name Trebbiano della Fiamma. The name is probably due to the fact that the mature grapes have an amber or sometimes even ginger color.
The Trebbiano grape is considered to have been introduced by the Etruscans even though it in Romagna is thought to have been the Romans to bring it with them. In fact, Trebbiano was in those times known as “il vino dei legionari”. (The wine of the legionnaires.)
Today, Trebbiano is the most cultivated grape in Emilia-Romagna (15.500 ha) and it is used in many of the DOC denominations such as Colli di Faenza DOC, Colli Romagna Centrale DOC, Modena DOC, and many others. It can also be used on its own in 100% Trebbiano wines such as is the case in the Ramato della Fiamma from Podere Palazzo.
To read more about the Podere Palazzo wines, head on over to my blog Grapevine Adventures. Click HERE to read the whole article.
