Bellone: The Great White Grape Of Lazio- Tomei "Fertile" Lazio IGT

2022 Tomei "Fertile" Lazio IGT 

Demeter Biodynamic AB Organic Vin Natur 

From its tiny presence on American shelves, one might think the Roman countryside had little to offer to wine lovers.  This would be a mistake, however, as the absence of marquee regions does not signal a lack of great wines of both the everyday and age-worthy variety. Add to the classics Cesanese and Frascati a bevy of exciting lo-fi interpretations, especially coming from Europe's largest volcanic lake, Lago di Bolsena,

Marco of Tomei is the only producer of wine in his hometown of Sezze, south of Rome about 50 km . A huge fan of his hometown’s history he’s out to revive an ancient tradition by focusing on native grapes to this corner of Lazio that may even have been produced a few millennia ago. Grapes like Ottonese, Bellone and Abbuoto are hyper local varietals Marco worked tirelessly to find planted around Sezze. With plenty of research he was able to find a few old local vineyards from which he was able to do massale selection from. In Marco’s mind this is preferred 100 times over from asking for plants at the nursery as it helps keep these biotypes native to Sezze alive. There is a tradition for grape growing in Sezze that has been passed down for generations. Marco recalls his grandfather having a tiny cantina at their family home and producing a white wine for their home consumption. Thus, micro plots are scattered through the village and in the surrounding hills of Sezze. It’s not as easy as finding a vineyard however. Growers make mistakes all the time and believe they might be growing one particular grape when in reality they are growing another.