Andrea Occhipinti started his eponymous winery to focus on indigenous Lazio grape after falling in love with the area when he attended oenology school there. After graduation he stuck around, eventually acquiring a small amount... Read More

Andrea Occhipinti started his eponymous winery to focus on indigenous Lazio grape after falling in love with the area when he attended oenology school there. After graduation he stuck around, eventually acquiring a small amount of land on the shore of Lake Bolsena. The lake is actually an enormous caldera and thus the soils where he tends his vines of Grechetto Rosso and Bianco, Procanico and Aleatico are volcanic.

This part of Lazio, very close to the Tuscan border and just north of Rome, isn't exactly known for great winemaking. But Andrea saw enormous this potential in the exceptional terroir and the little known local varieties. His tireless experimentation - the use of amphora, skin contact, red/white cofemrnets - has raised the bar significantly. These are some of the most exciting wines of Central Italy, an area that as a whole, because Andrea and others, is seeing a bit of a renaissance.

And no, Andrea is not related to the more famous Occhipniti’s in Sicily. But he does share with Arianna an almost preternatural ability to convey terroir through gentle and thoughtful winemaking. Andrea’s wines are filled with a nervy energy and minerality that are unmistakingly volcanc. His wines are soulful in a way that makes them deeply satisfying. This is also one of the great food areas of the world and the transparent nature of these wines make them exceedingly pairable.

These are the types of wine that when you first taste them you feel like you need to share them with the other wine lovers in your life. Made in small quantities, the wines are rare as they are beautiful. Andrea is just starting to get some buzz in the states so there is no better time to hop on The Andrea Occhipinti Bandwagon.