Monastero Suore Cistercensi

Vitorchiano (VT) - LAZIO

Monastero Suore Cistercensi is about an hour drive north of Rome. It is a monastery that was opened in 1957 and is today comprised of around 80 Sisters of the ‘Cistercense della Stretta Osservanza’ order – also known as the Trappist order. The order follows the Benedictine principle of the ora et labora – pray and work. In this case the work is primarily agricultural, reflecting a philosophy of enjoying nature, without possessing it, and in doing so coming closer to God.

The work is also a source of income for the sisters. That income is used to support the local community and finance new projects, including establishing new religious communities in areas where there is no monastic presence.

When the Sisters first arrived they cleared the land of stones and brambles to make it arable. Some vineyards were planted, but winemaking is not the only activity: there are also 5 hectares of olive and fruit trees from which they make oil and jams.

The winemaking operation was built up gradually. It was only in the 1980’s that a cellar was built which started making wine and selling it in bulk. Then in the early 2000s after a decline in sales left them with a cellar full of wine, the sisters recognised that something needed to change. At this point Giampiero Bea, a winemaker and president of the Consorzio Vini Veri, came on as winemaking consultant. He encouraged them and told them that their wine had its own identity and he helped them to express it.

With Bea’s help the cellar was reorganised, including with the addition of a bottling operation. But more importantly he introduced them to the natural wine philosophy. Two labels were produced: first a white wine, Coenobium; and since 2008, on the advice of Bea, a red, Ruscum, which uses the same grapes used in Coenobium, but with maceration on the skins. Both wines have incredible sapidity and energy that comes from the presence of magma in the soils. A third wine, also a red, Benedic, is made but due to its the very low production is rarely seen outside the monastery.

While harvesting is done by the all the sisters in community, five or six nuns take care of the vineyard all year round. They treat the vines with sulphur and copper only and keep a permanent grassing between the rows, leaving the clippings on the ground.

In the cellar, Sisters Adriana and Marta are in charge. The cellar is nothing more than a tool shed packed to the gills with old steel tanks and fiberglass containers of various sizes. Here they ferment the grapes with only naturally occurring yeasts and follow organic wine-making practices.

The wines of Monastero Suore Cistercensi are great, honest expressions of place, but also of the devotion and duty of the Sisters that make them.