The Challenge

Only great wines: this is the challenge that Luigi Merendelli set for himself when he decided some years ago to devote himself to winemaking. An entrepreneurial spirit, the search for innovation and enthusiasm but also a strong ambition and tenacity combined with a great love for wine are the reasons that led him to set off on an extraordinary new adventure – to bring back to life, in a beautiful art- and culture-filled area, that winemaking tradition for which it was very famous in the past, as evidenced by the writings of Pliny the Younger, who was a great admirer of this land and its wine.

In La Palerna, his wife Paola's estate, Luigi Merendelli found the terroir in which his favourite wines could be grown. The altitude, exposure and soil convinced him that it was not only possible to make great wines but that he could also take on the most ambitious challenge: the noblest, but also the most difficult, wine, Pinot Noir, which is also used to produce a surprising sparkling wine, the one made with the Traditional Method, called Spumante Metodo Classico. Today this wine, along with other splendid labels, is a great reality. With the wines of La Palerna, wine-growing in the Upper Tiber Valley has been revived, becoming an important part of the area in a short time with the confidence that the quality is sure to win the favour of all those who love wine and live and work in its world.

Mauro Monicchi is the oenologist who devotes himself to “La Palerna” wines. He has got a lot of expertise in vinification and in experimentation in Bordeaux and in Maremma. He has been the person in charge for the production in qualified wineries in Umbria and in the South of France. Now he is the technical adviser and the person in charge for the production in high level wineries in Umbria in Tuscany and in particular in Montalcino, in Montepulciano, in Arezzo and in Montefalco.

“Lauretta Bernini is the Agronomist of “La Palerna”, who is winemaking consultant in many important quality wine districts.