morco merli

“To be clear: he doesn’t make wild wines, instead, layers,
weaves, and interweaves the wildness of the Umbrian hills and grape varieties...”

Domaine Overview

Year Founded: 2002

Winemaker: Marco Merli

Location: Colli Altotiberini, Hills off the Tiber river

Size: 7 hectares

Grapes: Sangiovese, Cigliegiolo,Trebbiano Toscano, Verdicchio, and Grechetto di Orvieto
Farming: Practicing Organic. Naturalista. Abandoned old vines, 40-50 years old.

Production: About 15,000 bottles/year

Over a decade ago, Marco Merli left a life as a fashion designer to become a naturalista in the Umbrian hills just outside of Perugia. Right away he brought an astute attention to detail, with a rigorous selvatica aesthetic. To be clear: he doesn’t make wild wines, instead,  layers, weaves, and interweaves the wildness of the Umbrian hills and grape varieties into addictively savory wines, with well placed highlights of bitter and sour.

Marco works various patches of vineyards, often abandoned with interesting old biotypes in the Colli Albertini. Fermentation takes place parcel by parcel, variety by variety, before eventual a final blending in dozens of re-conditioned small cement or fiberglass tanks. Sangiovese, Cigliegiolo, old vine (40-50 years) Trebbiano Toscano, and Verdicchio are varieties you’ll recognize from central Italy. His use of Grechetto di Orvieto (not  Grechetto di Todi) in his blends underpins the selvativa esthetic Marco strives for. The variety’s wild acidity and bitterness is cut with techniques, such as partial whole-grape fermentation, and various blending of the different soil parcels in a way that the wild selvatica part remains intact.

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The Wines

MARCO MERLI ‘TRISTO’ BIANCO UMBRIA

Tristo is a whole-cluster, cement tank fermented macerato / orange wine. These techniques extract notes of dried flower and spices, with just enough rough-around-the-edges texture in the mouth.

MARCO MERLI ‘TRISTO’ ROSSO UMBRIA

Tristo Rosso won our hearts thanks to its thirst-quenching acidity and character: red fruits and black berries plus verdants notes reminiscent of the cover crops and herbs planted among the vine rows

MARCO MERLI ‘ZERODIBABO’ ROSATO UMBRIA

Zero di Babo is a reference that the wine is vinified dry, with 0 / zero residual sugar after fermentation is completed. And although this wine is bone dry, there remains an addictive succulence to the fruit.

MARCO MERLI ‘BRUCISCO’ UMBRIA BIANCO

Brucisco is a Marco Merli’s father’s nickname, and this traditional Umbrian blend: full of the raw energy of the Umbrian hills, with a vinous, a structured minerality. There are impressionable notes of golden hay drying in the summer sun, an often seen view in central Italy.

Marco Merli '000172021' Rosso Umbria

‘000172021’ Rosso is the come-one, come-all red from Cantina Marco Merli, intended to strike a balance that suits every palate and every mood: juicy and spicy, plush and crunchy. A Sangiovese predominate blend from 3 ha. of vines growing in calcareous clay soils. The wine is named for the temperature in centigrade of the 2021 harvest.

Marco Merli '000182022' Bianco Umbria

In Marco’s words, ‘‘000182022’ Bianco is a wine of “equilibrio e piacevolezza” – balance and charm. It is a blend comprising the three white varieties growing at Cantina Marco Merli, named for the temperature in centigrade of the 2022 vintage. We love it for its solar fruit, earthy spice, and snappy acidity