2023 Monastero Suore Cistercensi Coenobium Lazio Bianco

Producer: Monastero Suore Cistercensi 
Region: Lazio, Italy  
Blend: 45% Trebbiano, 35% Malvasia, 20% Verdicchio 
Year: 2023 

Winemaker Notes: 

"Produced in an entirely natural manner under the guidance of Giampiero Bea, the Coenobium is a blend of Trebbiano, Verdicchio, and Malvasia, harvested together and co-fermented without added yeasts or temperature stabilization. Aged on its fine lees in steel and fiberglass tanks, it is bottled just before the next harvest without fining or filtering. The nose is evocative of autumn on multiple sensory levels, with aromas of fennel fronds, chamomile tea, almonds, and tangerine that lead into a full but delicately rendered palate. Vitorchiano’s volcanic soils come through with a somber smoke-iron interplay, and glowing acidity lets the savory flavors coat the mouth, yet the overall impression is one of freshness and drinkability."  

About the Producer: 

"It’s difficult to believe that we are preparing to receive our fourteenth vintage from the sisters of Monastero Suore Cistercensi. Led by Adriana and Fabiola this convent of 70 Cistercian nuns has been organically farming their five hectares of vines in Vitorchiano, Lazio, since the early nineties, but it wasn’t until the legendary Giampiero Bea began advising them in the early 2000s that their wines gained a larger audience.

Today, a ravenous US audience eagerly awaits each new release of “the nun wine,” and we at Rosenthal Wine Merchant cannot even come close to satisfying the huge demand. Even before Giampiero began helping them gently refine their approach and commercialize their wines—only to the US and Japan, it should be noted—he was struck by the frankness of a white wine produced with almost no technology. In a region rife with highly controlled, highly sulfured concoctions, here was a wine of real character, an unadorned expression of healthy grapes grown in a fascinating volcanic-soiled terroir."  

Alcohol: 12.5% 

Organically farmed. 

*Price and availability in store may vary. Vintage date may differ from pictured.