Cesarini Sartori - meet the winery!

The Cesarini Sartori winery, is a family-run estate ... located in the middle of the landlocked central Italy region of Umbria (about a 45 mins drive south of the historic hill town of Assisi, the birthplace of St Francis) ... focussed on crafting organic wines, with a specialisation in Umbria's more fascinating red grape - Sagrantino.

The head of the Cesarini family, Luciano, is passionate about the health properties of their local vine Sagrantino, and his daughter Alice works tirelessly to promote this important variety, which is still little known outside the region or Italy.

More about the winery, in his own words ...

"My name is Luciano Cesarini and I come from Bastardo.

After graduating in Electrotechnics Engineering in Bologna I had to go back home because my father died in a car crash. My brother and I had to take over the family business, operating in the electricity distribution sector. Despite the first enormous difficulties we succeeded growing the business, and after three years I became president of the regional association in the sector, and then national president. A story of success, which I interrupted in 2000. With the liberalization of the energy sector, things started to turn bad, and the several commitments in Italy and abroad forbade me to dedicate to my family and my passion: the COUNTRYSIDE.

At the time I did not know much about wine, but there we could get community funds to start a wine business. Moreover, my wife Fiorella and my brother Giuseppe had a real passion for wine: that’s why we decided to leave our professions (engineer, veterinary, industrialist) to start a new adventure.

We decided to build the winery in our small town, Bastardo, an unspoiled location in Umbria, surrounded by several castles from the Middle Age which are still intact and populated.

We started buying land and, after studying, we projected a technologically advanced winery, which can solve almost any production problem.

Over the years we convinced ourselves of what today became the company values:

• NO TO CHEMICALS, YES TO TECHNOLOGY. We studied innovative technological solutions, some of which are unique in Europe, to minimize the use of chemicals in the vineyards and in the winery. The result is a natural product, more than organic.
• BEYOND THE SPECIFICATION. The specification (DOC, DOCG etc) requires a vinification which is far away from Umbrian tradition. Moreover, it restricts the invention of the winemaker, and pushes us out from the international taste. Therefore, we prefer the IGT vinification: a wine is good if it is top quality, if it is natural and if the consumer likes it!
• HOSPITALITY AND TRANSPARENCY. We are glad to guide you any time of the year to discovering the winery and the production stages. Stop by for a glass of wine; we will be happy to show you the hidden wonders of the area! We don’t have secrets for our customers:  only a glass separates the office from the tasting room. With 9 webcams filming the vineyards and the main areas of the winery 24h, the members of the Unique Wines Club can check online, live and from anywhere in the world, every production stage.
• SPACE FOR EMERGING TALENTS. Signae winery has always promoted emerging talents from all over the world. Rossobastardo live is the emblematic project of this commitment. A mutual opportunity for us and our young and emerging winery, and for young artists coming from all over the world to exhibit during the most famous festivals.

Today our winery is considered one of the most technologically advanced in Europe and we keep on studying to improve the quality of our products."

NB: read more about the Sagrantino grape of Umbria here: 

https://onceuponavine.sg/blogs/news/sagrantino-the-healthy-heart-grape