In the southern outskirts of Rome, we are crossing the Via Appia Antica, the ancient Roman road that connected Rome with the port of Brindisi. A dirt road branches off to the left, leading across fields, past houses and stables. A scene straight out of an Italian neo-realist movie, timeless. We are at the Tenuta di Fiorano estate. Principe Alberico Boncompagni Ludovisi, a member of one of Rome's most important noble families, founded the estate in the immediate post-war period. Not only that: he also moved here to the villa, which has the illustrious address of Via Appia Antica 400. (This no longer belongs to the Tenuta di Fiorano, but more on that later).
Like his famous aristocratic colleague Mario Incisa della Rocchetta (Sassicaia), Alberico Boncompagni Ludovisi also took his cue from the French high vines and planted Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot for the reds and Semillon for the whites. He simply called the wines Tenuta di Fiorano Rosso and Tenuta di Fiorano Bianco. For a long time, they were reserved for a small circle of insiders. Until the doyen of the Italian wine writers' guild, Luigi Veronelli, discovered Fiorano in the 1970s. He praised the wine beyond all measure and classified it as one of the best red wines in Italy. From then on, the name Fiorano became somewhat better known, but remained an insider tip.
Idyllic, but urban
A large part of the estate – in addition to wine, there are also grain fields and cattle breeding – went to Alessandrojacopo Boncompagni Ludovisi, who accompanied Alberico in the last years of his life. Most of the vineyards were replanted, and instead of exclusively Semillon, Alessandrojacopo also planted Grechetto and Viognier alongside Semillon – true to Alberico's instructions, who believed that these varieties were now more suitable in view of climate change.
The Fiorano Rosso, on the other hand, is still produced in the same way as under Alberico: an impressive, deep red wine that only comes onto the market after at least six years of ageing and storage.
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