Il Palazzone Orvieto Classico Superiore Terre Vineate 2004

The soft scents of wildflowers and honey emanate from the golden-hued 2004 Il Palazzone Terre Vineate Orvieto Classico Superiore. This is a wine the carries the seductive scent of spring in every draught of its delightful bouquet. Moreover, all of this lovely Orvieto’s olfactory goodness follows through on the palate, so that very sip of the 2004 Il Palazzone Terre Vineate Orvieto recalls the vernal awakening amidst the budding green and amber-hued hills that surround Orvieto. The wine, like the vaulted town of Orvieto itself, appears timeless – a cross between the ancient and the eternal. The 2004 Il Palazzone Terre Vineate combines the best attributes of the golden-hued abboccato style of Orvieto, for which Orvieto was once famous, with all of the freshness and vivacity of contemporary dry Orvieto. In the 2004 Terre Vineate, the Dubini family has fashioned a soft, succulent dry Orvieto of grace, elegance, and distinction, which speaks directly to the senses. It purveys a truly aesthetic quality, worthy of the city for which it is named. Serve the 2004 Il Palazzone Terre Vineate moderately chilled (about 40° F).

In Orvieto, the wine that bears the name of Italy’s most illustrious hill town is best known as an aperitif or a starter wine with a delicate first course. The 2004 Il Palazzone Terre Vineate is wonderful aperitif and much more. Displaying more body and flavor than other Orvieto, the 2004 Il Palazzone provides a wonderful accompaniment to fish, pork, lightly smoked meats, and cheeses. A simple grilled fish, served with a creamy cheese infused polenta, provides a first rate companion to Il Palazzone’s finest. For those seeking heartier fare, a traditional thick bread and cabbage soup with a cheese crust, the kind that is served in homes or local trattorias throughout northern and central Italy, gets our nod as a kindred companion to the 2004 Il Palazzone Terre Vineate. Sautéed scallops in a cream sauce, served with homemade pasta, lentils and peas, provide another near perfect pairing. And remember, one also has the option of serving the 2004 Terre Vineate all by itself. Enjoy!

Il Palazzone is a stunningly beautiful estate, which sits atop a hill. It overlooks the venerable hill town of Orvieto. A more appropriate testimony to the illustrious name of Orvieto would be hard to find. Both the estate and the wine at Il Palazzone due justice to the accolades and the unabashed praise that millennia of joyful Etruscans, Romans, and assorted moderns have heaped upon Orvieto and its lovely white wine. Orvieto Classico is certainly the most representative wine from Umbria; it can also be one of Italy’s most consistently delightful white wines. Unique among Italy’s white wines for its complex blend of five varietals, Orvieto is rarely an easy wine to make because of differing ripening timetables for each of the five varietals and the requisite difficulty of proportionate blending. Il Palazzone incorporates all five of the traditional varietals into its Orvieto: Orvieto, Procanico, Verdello, Grechetto, Malvasia and Drupeggio For centuries, Orvieto was a semi-sweet wine, not unlike Vouvray, but today nearly all Orvieto is vinified dry. Some producers still turn out small quantities of amabile or abboccato, the designations given to sweet Orvieto, but the very finest producers like Il Palazzone seem to impart a wonderfully rich and silky body and an intensely fruity bouquet to their wine, without the residual sugar that most contemporary wine drinkers eschew. The Dubini family are the present guardians of Il Palazzone. They bought the estate in 1970 and by 1972 they had resurrected and restructured this neglected property into what has become the model estate in Orvieto. The semi-abandoned country house was fixed up and 40 acres of vineyards were planted on soils of volcanic origin with ideal southeastern exposure. Molto bene!