Gambero Rosso is one of the most important gastronomic communication companies in Italy. Every year, they produce a wine guide featuring all of the country’s best wines. In this publication, the most prestigious in Italy, the top award is shown with three glasses or ‘tre bicchieri’, the highest recognition. And Sergio Mottura has achieved this with some of his wines, and is also considered “the best interpreter of the Grechetto variety in the world”. And how could he not be? The Mottura family has always had a very special relationship with this variety that is historically grown in Civitella d'Agliano, in the province of Viterbo and in the Lazio region (in central Italy, barely an hour and a half from Rome). Here, in his winery, Sergio Mattura produces the Sergio Mottura Poggio della Costa single-variety white.
Until the early 1960s, the family estate was managed by different farmers on a sharecropping basis. The families who worked these lands produced their own wine. Of all the varieties, Grechetto was the one that ripened first, so the farmers didn’t yet have access to the only barrel where they fermented the wine. So, the Grechetto grapes were delivered straight to the family and the Mottura’s had to leave one warehouse free just for this variety. That was just the beginning of a beautiful relationship, because thanks to this the family was able to see the quality and potential of the Grechetto. The results were marvellous and have resulted in three single-variety wines: Latour a Civitella (aged in barrels), Muffo (a dessert wine) and Sergio Mottura Poggio della Costa.
This wine gets its name from the 7-hectare Poggio della Costa vineyard. The vines grow on volcanic soil known as tufa, facing east and at an altitude of 140 metres above sea level. The work and care is completely organic and manual, avoiding chemicals. Once the grapes have been manually harvested, Sergio Mottura Poggio della Costa is gently pressed. The must is left to settle for a few days at a low temperature so that the herbaceous substances precipitate, leaving the must clean and ready for fermentation. This process, where Sergio Mottura Poggio della Costa finally becomes wine, takes place in stainless steel tanks, at a controlled temperature (18-20°C) for 15-25 days.
Once this process is completed, Sergio Mottura Poggio della Costa remains in these tanks until the end of March, in contact with its lees. Undoubtedly the best way to get to know the Grechetto.