"Nunc est bibendum...", meaning
"It's the right time to drink", as Quintus Horatius Flaccus
(aka the Latin poet Oratius) wrote in his work "Carmina".
And the Ciuffa family has chosen this phrase as their motto,
since they started making very good wines in Castelli
Romani's area.
In 1982 they moved from
Montecompatri (the family's country of origin) to Monte
Porzio Catone where the father, Vincenzo, had bought a
beautiful former convent, "Cenacolo Maddalena", which had
alreday been the dwelling of Count Tommasi. This is still
the name of two of the Cantina Cerquetta wines which
represent the pride of the family: "Antico Cenacolo" and
"Grotta del Cenacolo".
Today Vincenzo can count on his
children working with him: Claudio is responsible of
promoting their products in Italy, Francesca takes care of
abroad promotion, while Valentina works on editorial and
graphic aspects.
Each year Cantina Cerquetta
turns out 3,000,000 bottles both from their own grapes (they
have a land of 25 hectares along Via Casilina), and from
grapes provided by 200 local producers. Of course, they have
to answer for high quality standards and full conformation
to organic regulation. That's why at the farm there are
agronomists and experts constantly keeping grapes under
examination.
Altough about 80% of the
production is intended for foreign markets (especially Great
Britain, Brazil and Germany), Claudio has always been
working on creating a network of contacts in Italy, in order
to promote Cantina Cerquetta trademark. To this purpose,
they yearly participate in the most important Italian wine
events, such as Milan, Verona, Parma, Turin, as well as
abroad, in Germany and Great Britain.
Another reason of pride for the
family was the purchase of a high-technology bottling
machine: wine-making and stockage phases entirely take place
in Montecompatri premises, where the "famous" machine can
yeald up to 8,000 bottles per hour!
Harvest is going to start on
October 4th with Malvasia del Lazio and will
finish with Cannellino, the last they are going to pick.
Talking about this wine, Claudio tells us that four years
ago they started using the original ancient recipe in order
the make the "true" Cannellino, sweet and with a light
alcoholic content. Next Christmas we will also see (and
taste!) a new Ciuffa product, a "passito" wine from grapes
harvested on last December.
During the years, various
specialized magazines and books praised the excellent
quality of Cantina Cerquetta wines, and Claudio shows us
with pride the press review of articles on the farm. We
choose two of them at random:
"2004 for Cantina Cerquetta was
a great year, also because for the first time they appeared
in the prestigious guide "I Vini di Veronelli" (Veronelli's
wines). This was a very important result, especially since
it is such a hardous task for wine producers to find favour
with a critic as harsh as Veronelli. In the end, their
efforts were rewarded and now they are present in the guide
with two products: Frascati Superiore 'Antico Cenacolo' and
'Flavus' Lazio Bianco".
"Verona, 9 April 2003, 11th
International Oenological Competition, 37th Vinitaly: Grand
Mention Diploma to Frascati Superiore D.O.C. Nobile".
