Riccardo Cotarella
Winemaker
Born in Monterubaglio, near the town of Orvieto, Riccardo Cotarella comes from a family that has been in the winemaking business for many generations. As a young man, under the guidance of his father, Riccardo actively participated in the day to day operations of his family’s business until he decided that it was time to further his studies with a degree in winemaking sciences.
In 1968, Riccardo graduated from the prestigious Enology and Viticulture School of Conegliano in the Veneto region. The same year, he started his winemaking career at the Conte Vaselli winery.
In 1979, Riccardo and his brother Renzo started the Falesco Winery. The principal aim at Falesco was, and still is, to rediscover and promote the value of Lazio’s traditional grape varieties. At Falesco, Riccardo developed the blockbuster Vitiano wines with their intense flavors and soft textures, as well as the very special Marciliano and Montiano releases.
In 1981, Riccardo decided to further expand his activities to include “consulting winemaker,” in an effort to acquire more experience on a wider range of grape types, soils and weather conditions. Today, Riccardo is sharing his wealth of knowledge not just among his team of technicians throughout Italy and Bordeaux, but also to an ever growing group of young students attending the University of Tuscia near Viterbo where Riccardo is now a fulltime professor of enology and viticulture.
Mr. Cotarella currently presides over, or is a member of, various regional tasting commissions that oversee the certification of certain DOC wines. These include the wines of the Orvieto, Colli Amerini and Est! Est!! Est!!! di Montefiascone appellations.
Riccardo was the first Italian winemaker to be invited to work in Bordeaux, and today his customers there include Chateau Rolland de By, Chateau La Clare and Chateau Tour Seran. In Italy, Riccardo’s clients include: Coppo (Piemonte), Di Majo Norante (Molise), Galardi (Campania), La Carraia (Umbria), Montevetrano (Campania), Monti (Abruzzo), Morgante (Sicilia), and Sportoletti (Umbria).
Mr. Cotarella owns and operates an agricultural and enological consulting company that employs 10 young graduates of the University of Viterbo.
This winery is run by an enthusiastic group of dedicated cousins, Maria Luisa Murena, Arturo and Dora Celentano, and Francesco Catello. The estate is firmly committed to making wine of the highest quality and has reaffirmed this commitment by hiring the distinguished oenologist, Riccardo Cotarella who shares their philosophy. Together they strive to maximize the intrinsic characteristics of the native grapes Aglianico and Piedirosso through attentive and careful vineyard management. The winery and surrounding hillside vineyards are located at approximately 1,300 feet above sea level and benefit of ideal growing conditions, such as climate and exposure. The name of their praised icon wine or “Land of Work” in Italian, reflects the soil composition in the area which is extremely rocky, thus difficult to cultivate. Yields and overall volume are very low; only a few thousand bottles are produced each year although the winery will have almost 30 acres under production in the future. The owners and Cotarella decided to focus on the native varietals Aglianico and Piedirosso.
