2022 Monastero Suore Cistercensi Benedic

WINEMAKER: Cistercense della Stretta Osservanza & Paolo Bea
REGION: Lazio, IT
VARIETY: Sangiovese, Ciliegiolo
VITICULTURE: Organic/Biodynamic 

Equal part for the 2 grapes. Co-fermented on the skin for 15 days in a mix of fibreglass and stainless steel. 

About an hour drive North of Rome, the monastery was opened in 1957, when the community moved in, and today has around 80 sisters. The order is the ‘Cistercense della Stretta Osservanza’, also known as Trappist, who obeys the Benedictine principle of the 'ora et labora’ (pray and work) and intends the work above all in the manual sense, therefore also agricultural. Here at this quiet religious outpost, this order works vineyards, orchards and gardens organically. Under the guidance of the Bea family, the sisters tend the vineyard without machinery and are invested in low-intervention practices. They ferment with only naturally occurring yeasts and follow organic wine-making practices. The “winery” is nothing more than a toolshed packed to the gills with old steel tanks, fiberglass containers of various sizes.