Tenuta Le Velette
Orvieto
The
Estate
The hill on which the Le Velette estate is situated, to the
east of the rock on which stands Orvieto, has always been a
point of great agricultural and strategic interest in the
course of its three thousand year history. The position,
controlling a good part of the valley of Orvieto, the volcanic
terrain exposed to the sun from dawn till dusk, and the
special microclimate with significant thermal swings between
night and day have always been its good fortune.
The first to see its great wine-growing
potential were the Etruscans, the people who had already in
the 7th century B.C. imported the vine from the Greeks. They
certainly used the hill as a rural settlement for its
cultivation and dug grottoes in the tufo rock, (just as we
still do today), which offered excellent conditions for wine
conservation. During Roman times, the hillside kept its
wine-making role but developed significantly also as a
strategic check point: right in the middle of the present
estate, where Villa Felici stands today, a control tower was
built and a resting-place for travellers, which led to
significant development in the area.
After a difficult
period of barbarian and Longobard invasions, the area regained
great importance as papal state land. In this period the
Etruscan grottoes were extended and became a safe refuge and
place of worship for the first monks who settled there soon
after.
With the advent of feudalism, the area passed into
the hands of the Negroni counts, feudal lords of a nearby
village, preserving its wine-making function for centuries
before being given in endowment to a monastic order by a
descendent who had become an abbot.
At the unification of
Italy everything went to the city of Orvieto, which sold the
estate to the Felici family. And so began the first
experimentations in the vineyard and the cellar which led in
very few years to the production of excellent wines, as is
testified by the medals won in that period in Roman
oenological competitions. The estate's wine went into commerce
in the new-born Italy.
The fundamental step towards modern
viticulture and oenology was taken in the 1950s when the
brilliant Tuscan agronomist, Marcello Bottai, and his wife
Giulia, a descendent of the Felici family, chose to make the
estate their home and life project. This was the start of a
period of development geared to a proper appreciation of the
full potential not only of the firm but also of the whole
district. The production of high quality wines was established
along with the setting up of systems for the development and
protection of Orvieto viticulture. A fundamental move was the
foundation with other producers of what would become the
present consortium for the safeguard of Orvieto wines. An
absolutely innovative vision for the times that the young
couple not only had had the wit to conceive but which they
also had the courage and determination to bring into
existence.
The
Vineyard
They carefully and selectively harvest from their
own 90 hectares (222 acres) of vineyards. The excellent
exposure provides all day sun and the rich tufaceous soil is
of volcanic origin.
The
Wines
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