THE CELLAR:
A CASTLE BETWEEN THE PAST AND THE FUTURE
The Conti Faina winery has its roots in the history of Umbria. The dream of Angelica Faina, today at the head of the company together with her husband Stefano, is to create a new reference for the region, making the company a model, as happened in the 19th century with Zeffirino Faina. It was in 1870, in fact, that Zeffirino, returning from France, decided to remove the awning vineyards from the Fratta Todina estate and introduce low vines with a density between 7000 and 10,000 vines per hectare. Unthinkable numbers for Umbria at that time: the concept of specialized viticulture was born for the first time. It was only the first "revolution" of Zeffirino, fruit of a deep knowledge of the Tuscan model, developed thanks to the friendship with Baron Bettino Ricasoli, and of the French one, which took place during his stay in France.
This extraordinary character thus made the Collelungo winery, located within the homonymous castle, a true example of avant-garde. Created from the excavation of the rock below the Castle (XIII century), it was founded in 1876 on the layout of the French model. Its long history is still evidenced today by the barrel dated 1883, kept in the cellar, where many of the historical wines were refined. The philosophy was from the beginning approaching nature, intervening as little as possible on the wine. First of all, the gravity drop system was introduced thanks to the three-level design. The aging rooms, on the other hand, extended over 200 meters, allowed natural air conditioning and a constant temperature, summer and winter. There were also technologies at the time at the forefront, such as the cheese maker, the fixed presses from France and many other instruments, still present in the cellar today. Thus it was that, already in 1886, the wines of the Conti Faina were appreciated in Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia Romagna and Lazio, as also demonstrated by the numerous awards including "the gold medal with 1000 lire" received from the Ministry of Agriculture in the 1886, the gold medal in Orvieto in 1891 and another gold medal in Zurich in 1893. Today the Conti Faina winery still partially exploits the technologies introduced by Zeffirino Faina in the 19th century. Here the wines of Pinot Nero 1883, Villa Murelli, Maltempo, Macchia della Torre, Montione and the sparkling wine Senatore Zeffirino come to life. The winery uses the advice of Maurilio Chioccia, a well-known name in Umbrian enology, who enthusiastically embraced the project.