2018 Leonardo Bussoletti 05035 Ciliegiolo di Narni Brecciaro Umbria 750 ml

If you charted a course using GPS to zip code 05035, you’d end up in one of two places: Bridgewater, Vermont, or in the town of Narni in Umbria, Italy. We can’t rule out the notion of ever offering wine from Vermont, but at the present, it’s safe to say that it would be a real rarity. So, let’s hope you end up in Narni, the source of the royally rare Ciliegiolo grape, which makes up 100% of the 2018 Leonardo Bussoletti 05035 Ciliegiolo di Narni Brecciaro. 

This may be the first and only Ciliegiolo you ever try—depending of course, on how resourceful you can be. But that’s what the Wine Access Wine Club is all about.

Most winemakers employ carbonic maceration with Ciglegiolo to showcase its vivid red strawberry and cherry aromas. This technique, made famous in France’s Beaujolais region, eschews direct pressing and instead the grapes undergo an intra-cellular fermentation. In a closed tank, the fermentation begins inside each grape which yields wines with a bright, wild raspberry color and delicate tannins. True to form, the 2018 Leonardo Bussoletti Ciliegiolo di Narni bursts out of the glass with vivid red fruit aromas, which continue on the palate and mingle with fresh wild herbs and spices.   

Italian expert and former Spectator European Bureau Chief James Suckling found “Lots of soaked, compote-like fruit here, such as red-plum essence and raspberry,” in his 90-point review, atop a “ medium-bodied, zesty and crunchy,” wine.

In antiquity, the grape was blended with Sangiovese, but incredibly, according to a 2004 report published in Wine Spectator, two Italian researchers identified Ciliegiolo and another grape called Calabrese di Montenuovo as the parents of Sangiovese. Considering that lovers of Chianti have Ciliegiolo to thank, Leonardo Bussoletti decided the ancient variety deserved its own revival. 

And we love a good revival story—especially if it’s for the right reasons. Ciliegiolo is an Italian variety, painstakingly revived by Bussoletti on his family farm in Umbria, and the name Cigliegiolo translates to “cherry” while the grape itself translates to pure history. The first recorded plantings of Cigliegiolo are from Florence dating back to the year 1600! This ancient variety has been the sole focus of Bussoletti’s viticultural life for more than a decade now. 

Today, in conjunction with the University of Milan, Bussoletti harbors over 30 clones of Cigliegiolo spread over 22 acres on his farm in Narni, about an hour north of Rome. Bussoletti’s clonal work is aimed at identifying and preserving massale selections for more widespread, but focused, plantings. 

While Cigliegiolo is planted throughout Italy in places like Piemonte, the Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Abruzzo, Campania, and Umbria, only about ten percent of plantings (roughly 7,000 acres) are classified as DOC or DOCG vines—meaning there is very little exceptional Cigliegiolo being produced, and of that tiny portion, close to all of it is consumed locally. Close, but not all since we got our hands on this Umbrian beauty, likely depriving a few local ristorantes of their expected allocation. Alas.    

We suggest enjoying it alongside fresh crusty bread, Umbrian olive oil, and a classic roast squab or herb-seasoned pork loin.