{"id":35604,"date":"2021-04-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-27T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mywinestore.it\/blog\/cantina-imperatori-wines-of-the-roman-countryside-with-a-modern-twist\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T19:36:45","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T17:36:45","slug":"cantina-imperatori-wines-of-the-roman-countryside-with-a-modern-twist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mywinestore.it\/en\/blog\/cantina-imperatori-wines-of-the-roman-countryside-with-a-modern-twist\/","title":{"rendered":"Cantina Imperatori: the wines of the Roman countryside with a modern twist"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAn excellent winery, unusual wines, highly knowledgeable staff, a very evocative setting.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWines of excellent quality, not to mention the winery itself, one of the most beautiful in Italy.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

We could go on, but there are plenty of opinions on the subject online. They tell of a young wine business, an enchanted place where every aspect, from the land to the quality of the wines, surprises and delights anyone who magically comes into contact with it.<\/p>\n

We are at Cantina Imperatori<\/a>, a farm estate south of Rome<\/strong>, near Frascati. Among the rounded tops of the hills the scenery is enchanting, for thousands of years a welcoming cradle for vines. Starting from the land is a necessary condition for wine, which embodies its distinctive traits and interprets them to give them back in the glass: the key word when tasting an Imperatori wine is rediscovery, and it can be read in two ways. One is the rediscovery of the Roman hills, the other of the oldest grape varieties.<\/p>\n

\"Cantina<\/p>\n

That the estate works with a view to rediscovering its territory<\/strong> is clear the moment you step through its gates. Like every marvel, it should be enjoyed in person \u2013 Cantina Imperatori has always organised a number of guided tours for this purpose \u2013; some details, though, deserve at least a mention, such as the amphitheatre shape of the sites sloping down towards Rome, the precision and order that bring harmony to everything, the exclusive winery, the amphorae in the cave.<\/p>\n

Every single element, small or large, tangible or abstract, contributes to an overall vision that springs from a project brought to life through expertise and passion, and founded on the intention of respecting the potential of its own land, the only way to get the desired results in the bottle.<\/p>\n

The ambition, in this case, is to create outstanding wines through a new interpretation of the varieties already grown in these areas, and more besides. It is the rediscovery of wine<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Imperatori wines<\/h2>\n

\"Cantina<\/p>\n

It all starts with an idea: not to produce Frascati DOC, but to focus on unusual varieties and single-varietal wines<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

So on the one hand Cantina Imperatori recovers and reinterprets the grapes grown in the Roman countryside before the phylloxera crisis, and on the other it introduces international grapes, matching them perfectly to the character of the land. The wines are born of meticulous care that begins in the vineyard and ends in the cellar, so that every bottle is good and of fine quality<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The main vine pests are monitored constantly, farming is organic with low-impact agronomic practices, and every technique in the vineyard aims to preserve the organoleptic qualities of the grapes, such as picking the bunches by hand so that the berries stay intact.<\/p>\n

There are five grape varieties, two of them native, and seven wines. All of them have a certain personality, but the most unusual is without doubt Trebbiano Verde.<\/p>\n

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\"Segreto<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Segreto Verde<\/h3>\n

It comes from an ancient grape variety that the Romans called “virdis” for the colour of its berries and which, before the phylloxera crisis, was the white grape par excellence in the Roman countryside; from native Trebbiano Verde<\/strong> grapes, Cantina Imperatori makes two highly respectable wines.<\/p>\n

After the harvest, part of the grapes is vinified in the classic way in temperature-controlled steel tanks to produce a Segreto Verde of straw-yellow colour with greenish reflections, a complex and imposing aroma, and a full, harmonious and very persistent flavour.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Another part of the grapes, instead, goes to the Roman galleries, where it is vinified and aged in unglazed terracotta amphorae<\/strong>, with the skins macerating for six months. The result is the most remarkable of the Imperatori wines, Segreto Verde, complex and elegant, with a full, aromatic flavour. Beyond its organoleptic qualities, this wine pays tribute to a tradition renewed for over 5,000 years: terracotta amphorae are ancient wine vessels whose shape recalls the womb and which, thanks to the clay they are made of, amplify the concept of terroir.<\/p>\n

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\"Cantina<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Cesanese<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Cesanese IGP Lazio<\/h3>\n

The only native red grape of Lazio, Cesanese<\/strong> has only recently been re-evaluated for its quality. Included in Cantina Imperatori’s rediscovery project, Cesanese has adapted perfectly to the land, despite being a difficult variety; this is thanks to the loose, well-drained soils and ideal exposure. It is aged in Slavonian oak casks for at least 12 months.<\/p>\n

The wine is elegant and well structured. It has a ruby red colour that turns towards garnet with age; the aroma is intense and broad, with the floral and fruity notes typical of Cesanese grapes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Cabernet<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Cabernet Sauvignon IGP Lazio<\/h3>\n

International in outlook, Cabernet Sauvignon<\/strong> is a grape with a great capacity to adapt. On the Imperatori estate it has found warm, sunny soils, ideal for producing a red wine of great structure and longevity. It is aged in French oak tonneaux for at least 24 months.
Imperatori’s Cabernet Sauvignon is complex, broad and very fine, with notes of red fruit and hints of sweet spice. It is a very deep ruby red, with light violet reflections and garnet tinges that increase with age. On the palate it shows excellent structure, with powerful, enveloping tannins that reach full balance as the wine ages.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The new Metodo Classico sparkling wine<\/h2>\n

Alongside the wines \u2013 two native and three international varieties, remember \u2013 a look at what’s new. <\/p>\n

With Cesanese vinified as a white wine<\/strong>, Cantina Imperatori is the only producer in Lazio to make a sparkling base wine for the Metodo Classico, a project in the pipeline for some time that arrived just in time for the 2021 festive toasts: the Pas Dos\u00e9 Metodo Classico<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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\"Pas<\/div>\n
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The fruit of an innovative project launched in 2018, Imperatori’s Pas Dos\u00e8 is made from native Cesanese d\u2019Affile grapes through a new interpretation of this ancient variety. An enjoyable sparkling wine, yellow in colour with rich golden reflections and balanced notes of apple and almond wrapped in hints of aromatic herbs and bread crust. On the palate, acidity and savouriness blend perfectly, making way for an elegant body and a surprisingly pleasant bitterness.<\/p>\n

The Pas Dos\u00e9 Metodo Classico is perfect as an aperitif or throughout a meal, a sparkling wine to serve with shellfish and with fish first and main courses. What better occasion than Christmas to discover its every nuance?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Imperatori project works, and it looks ahead in the same spirit in which it was born: to create wines that surprise those who can recognise and appreciate true excellence.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let’s get to know Imperatori wines and the project behind them. Discover outstanding wines for ambitious palates. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24297,"featured_media":35488,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wineries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mywinestore.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mywinestore.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mywinestore.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mywinestore.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24297"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mywinestore.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35604"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mywinestore.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35712,"href":"https:\/\/mywinestore.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35604\/revisions\/35712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mywinestore.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mywinestore.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mywinestore.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mywinestore.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}