Castello di Torre in Pietra, April 2022 or The World of Filippo Antonelli
Chapter One: Castello di Torre in Pietra (Rome, Lazio)
Jets fly low over Torre in Pietra. When the family of pope Sixtus V purchased the farm in the 16th century, Fiumicino airport was a malaria-filled swamp. Ninety years ago Senator Luigi Albertini, editor of Corriere della Serra and ancestor of Filippo Antonelli, bought the farm and continued the extensive “drain the swamp” anti-malaria project that had begun in the region in the late 19th century. He turned a former aristocratic country hunting lodge into a massive dairy, using cattle imported from Washington state to create a farm responsible for supplying most of the milk consumed in very-proximate metropolitan Rome. He also planted vines and organized a cellar, near the tower that gives this winery its name.
For twenty years Castello di Torre in Pietra has been farming organically. Alongside vines, over 80 hectares are planted to cereals on the estate. As we walk around the impressive ancient cluster of buildings, Filippo Antonelli tells me that hundreds of people once lived on the property. There was a blacksmith, and a leather worker. Inside his family’s compound, painted walls and ceilings bring to life a different era. A relative of Filippo’s wrote librettos for Puccini. Romantic agrarian landscapes wrap an entire room. Galleries of Cardinals peer down from alcoves in their vestments. There’s a lot of marble and grandeur. More than a few trompe l’œil hide in the visual overload, to reward the careful viewer.
The head of the original Carnation bull imported by Senator Albertini is mounted on a wall. Just inside the doorway to the farm’s restaurant (Osteria dell'Elefante) pride of place is given to a massive prehistoric elephant femur. Filippo explains that the creature was different from mammoths that once roamed North America, closer in DNA to modern elephants. In the estate’s small office area, a bottling line is filling and labeling Elephas Bianco, the Lazio IGT white made from Trebbiano, Fiano, Malvasia, and Vermentino. As it happens, these specific bottles are going to be shipped to America! North Carolina, to be precise. I get a weird small feeling of joy when I randomly encounter wine bottles that will appear again at our loading dock one day.
The kitchen of the Osteria is closed for lunch on Wednesday, but Filippo’s Danish sidekick/shopkeeper Jan heats us up some lasagna they made earlier. Parts of the cellar and winery were restored in 1999. We sit in a cool corner of the dining room. It’s a beautiful wood-and-brick space. I’m certain they do a bustling wedding/event business at this address. Alongside lasagna are salami made from pigs raised at Antonelli’s other farm in Umbria: more on that place later. The meat is studded with black pepper, the texture tender in a way rarely encountered in US-made salamis. Umbria is the birthplace of cured meats. Another story.
With lunch, we taste Castelli di Torre in Pietra’s current releases.
The aforementioned 2021 Elephas bianco is easy and refreshing. It has a mellow pear aroma. I’ve been digging pears lately. Late to the party on that one, probably.
2021 Vermentino Lazio IGT is grown in sandy/calcareous soils at the southern edge of the estate, facing the Thyrennian sea. Torre in Pietra have cultivated this grape since 1968. The current vintage shows asian pear, lychee, and orange zest aromas. It has a really nice texture: ripe, sunny.
2021 Roma bianco DOC Malvasia Puntinata is pleasantly tactile. Similar to the Vermentino, aromas veer in the direction of orange zest, followed by salty almond.
2021 Elephas rosso IGT is a blend of Montepulciano, Sangiovese, and Merlot. This wine is so good for the price. Lovely balance. Cherries. Little-to-no tannin. It likes a slight chill.
2019 Roma Rosso DOC is a blend of 50% Montepulciano, 35% Sangiovese, and 15% Cesanese. Purple color. Violet aromas. Herby. Spicy on the finish.
2019 Cesanese Terre di Breccia IGT Lazio is grown on hillside vines in the commune of Breccia (as the name implies.) Cesanese is Lazio’s greatest indigenous red grape, underrated, emerging at present from obscurity. This wine is a delight. Mid-weight, violet aromas, sour cherry fruit, also pristine raspberry. A strong vintage, and one of my personal favorites in the portfolio.
After some amaro we wander back outside. The Mediterranean sun is at full strength a little too early this year. I’m ready for an air-conditioned drive through the remarkably agricultural outskirts of Rome. There are still cattle in fields, and hundreds of sheep. I see fields of what appear to be cultivated artichokes, and perhaps asparagus.