Castelli Romani – Frascati – a tour of the Minardi winery

One of my most favourite experiences on my Frascati trip was a visit to the Minardi winery www.minardifrascatiwinery.com.

Their vinyard is located in the beautiful countryside outside Frascati, about fifteen minutes’ drive to the north. Everywhere you look there are vinyards and olive groves.

Archaeological discoveries show that wine grapes have been cultivated in the region since the 5th century BC. Frascati wine was one of the favourite tipples of the ancient Romans, and has since been favoured by Renaissance popes, as well as poets and artists visiting on the Grand Tour in the 1700s and 1800s.

In 1966 Frascati was one of the first Italian regions to receive DOC status and in 2011, two Frascati wines (Frascati Superiore, a white wine, and Cannellino di Frascati, a sweet dessert wine) qualified for the higher DOCG recognition.

Minardi offer various tours and cookery classes. I opted for the Wine Tasting and Farmhouse Tour. A transfer from the train station is included, so I was picked up by the our guides Toni (on the left) and his colleague Nic (on the right) who brought us to Umberto, the vinyard owner (centre).

This first tasting of Frascati Superiore was under a huge magnolia tree by the farmhouse. I’d never encountered this tree before but I recognised the fruit which are called custard apples in the tropics. I love eating them, they live up to their name when ripe, but perhaps these weren’t an edible variety.

After this we went to look at the vines during while Umberto, with Nic translating, explained the history and wine-making philosophy of Minardi.

Here he is showing us the different leaf shapes of Malvasia and Trebianno vines, which are the principal varieties for making Frascati white wine.

Several fruit trees grow around the farmhouse so we also got to taste some fresh pomegranate which Umberto cut straight from the branch.

Various wild herbs grow wild here as well, such as Mentucchi (aka lesser calamint, a member of the mint family). Also this white flower, the name of which eluded me, which had a surprisingly powerful flavour.

The terrace behind the farmhouse has stunning views for miles across the countryside. It’s a very historical landscape as, just over a ridge nearby, is the location of the Battle of Lake Regillus which was fought around 496 BC. It was a significant victory for the Roman Republic over the Latin League, which marked the final attempt to restore the kingdom of Rome.

After this we were shown into the main room of the farmhouse itself.

The room doubles as a museum for ancient wine-making equipment which Umberto explained the uses of.

The wooden tubs of various sizes were traditionally used for treading the grapes (often the job of children). The tubs stayed in use until someone invented a machine to do the job.

The machines got larger and more elaborate over time. Nowadays wineries are required by law to use a machine that costs over €400,000 to buy, which makes it out of reach for most, so now the grapes are sent off site to be processed.

At one end of the room is the entrance to the cellar.

The walls are made of tufo, a volcanic rock.

It was originally the Romans who chose the location of the building, and they craftily built it over a natural cave, the current cellar, which was formed by gases that had created a bubble in the lava. The entrance was once the hole through which the gases escaped.

This video shows the various strata of the eruption with tufo at the bottom and pyroclastic ashes and rubble above. You can see the mica glittering in the floor as the video moves up the ramp and it does the same outside in the sun.

Next we returned to the main room for lunch where we were joined by the pasta making class (another option which can be added on to the tour).

We started with a plate of antipasti of local hams, cheeses, bruschetta and some caponata (a Sicilian aubergine and vegetable stew). I’m not usually a fan of caponata but this was the best I’d ever eaten! The extra flavour must be down to the volcanic soil in which the veg was grown.

We followed this with a course of mezze maniche ‘half sleeve’ pasta prepared two ways; as a carbonara, with eggs and cripsy guanciale, and the other in a seasonal pumpkin sauce.

Towards the end of the meal there was a loud crash as the doors were kicked open and Toni entered wielding a guitar. He regaled us with a few classic folk and pop songs which we clapped and sang along to, a fun end to our experience.

Finally we got the opportunity to buy some of the products we had been eating and drinking. I purchased a bottle of their excellent olive oil and a jar of gelatina di vino, as well as a bottle of red Cesanese, an excellent red wine typical in Lazio.

This was a really fun experience that I don’t hesitate to recommend. Many thanks to our wonderful hosts!