Rieti, Lazio, Italy
Wines by Leonardo Sassi
Varietals and key wines include; Ciliegiolo, Malvasia, Trebbiano, Sangiovese, Cesanese, Montepulciano
Podere Sassi sits on the border with Umbria, overlooking the lower valley of the Sabina region.
Leonardo Sassi spent most of his life in Rome working for his family's bakery business, but his family still owned land on the border with Umbria and as he grew older, Leonardo felt drawn to setting up life in the countryside.
So they took the decision to rehabilitate his family's old vines while planting new vines across the 3.5 hectares and building a winery from the ground up. Handily, Leonardo was also friends with influential natural winemaker Danilo Marcucci, and Danilo joined as a consultant.
Leonardo is currently sourcing fruit from his neighbours in Montebello and 2017 was his first vintage. They only produce a limited number of their six natural handmade wines. For example, in the last vintage they only produced 600 bottles of their orange wine, ‘A Piccoli Passi’. The natural wines are free from flavour-fixing additives, preservatives and synthetic chemicals.
