Est! Est!! Est!!! di Montefiascone
Encyclopedia
Est! Est!! Est!!! di Montefiascone (also known as just Est! Est!! Est!!!) is an Italian wine
region centered around the commune of Montefiascone
in province of Viterbo
in Latium
. Since 1996, the white Trebbiano
and Malvasia bianca based wines produced within the 1000 acres (404.7 ha) of the region can qualify for Denominazione di origine controllata
(DOC) designation under Italian wine laws.
The unusual name of the wine region dates back to a 12th century tale of a German bishop
traveling to the Vatican
for a meeting with the Pope
. The bishop sent a prelate
ahead of him to survey the villages along the route for the best wines. At a Montefiascone inn
, the prelate was reportedly so impressed with the local wine that he wrote Est! Est!! Est!!! (Latin
for "It is") on the door so that the bishop would not fail to stop by. While this tale has been widely repeated, with some variations (such as the event taking place in the 10th century and/or involving a Flemish bishop,, attending the coronation of Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor
instead of meeting the Pope, etc), the story is considered by many wine experts, such as Master of Wine
Mary Ewing-Mulligan
, to be apocryphal.
Today, the wine region is known primarily for wine tourism
, catering to the visitors of Lake Bolsena
north of Rome
, with comparatively little Est! Est!! Est!!! di Montefiascone being exported. Among wine critics, the wine often receives negative opinions with wine experts such as Hugh Johnson
and Jancis Robinson
describing in The World Atlas of Wine
that Est! Est!! Est!!! di Montefiascone is "the dullest white wine with the strangest name in the world." (sic) Wine writer Joe Bastianich compares the region to the Tuscan wines from Vernaccia di San Gimignano
saying that the region's "...history is more compelling than what's currently in the glass."
The story behind the name of Est! Est!! Est!!! di Montefiascone has been widely repeated for centuries and, though likely apocryphal, has served as tourism draw for the region and giving some notoriety to the wine. While some variation of the tale exist, the basic legend involves a traveling Catholic bishop on his way to Rome who sends out a servant ahead to find places with the best wine for the bishop to enjoy. Visiting villages throughout Italy, the servant would scrawl Est (Latin for "It is") on the door of the places he found to have good wine for the bishop's party to later visit. The legend has it that the servant was so impressed with the wine being served at a Montefiascone inn that he enthusiastically scrawled Est! Est!! Est!!! on the door.
While that is the basic outline of the story, over the centuries several variations have popped up that slightly change some of the details. One of the more detailed retelling can be found in Tom Stevenson
's Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia where he pinpoints the events to late 1110 or early 1111 when a 12th century German bishop, Johann Fugger, was traveling to Rome for the coronation of Henry V as Holy Roman Emperor
. On his travels, Fugger sent his majordomo ahead of him to taste the local wines and report back which wines were Vinum est bonum. As with other retellings, the majordomo documented his research by writing Est in chalk on the door of the establishments whose wines he enjoyed and, being so impressed with the wines of Montefiascone, punctuated his message with multiple Est! Est!! Est!!!. But Stevenson also reports that the bishop, himself, was also so impressed with the wines that he canceled the rest of his journey and stayed in Montefiascone until his death. Today, there is a tomb in a local church in Montefiascone that claims to be the resting place of Bishop Fugger.
of 13 tonnes/ha. The finished wine must have a minimum alcohol level of at least 11% and be composed of a blend of at least 65% Trebbiano (known locally as Procanico), 20% Malvasia bianca and no more than 15% Rosetto (known locally as Trebbiano Giallo).
notes and high acidity. The wines can be produced in dry and sweeter abboccato styles. Locally, the wines are often paired with Roman cuisine
such as fritto misto and deep-fried artichokes.
One major producer is Falesco
. Their version has been called a "generic Umbrian cheap white known around the world."
Italian wine
Italian wine is wine produced in Italy, a country which is home to some of the oldest wine-producing regions in the world. Italy is the world's largest wine producer, responsible for approximately one-fifth of world wine production in 2005. Italian wine is exported largely around the world and has...
region centered around the commune of Montefiascone
Montefiascone
Montefiascone is a town and comune of the province of Viterbo, Italy, located on a hill on the southeast side of Lake Bolsena, 95 km north of GRA .-History:...
in province of Viterbo
Province of Viterbo
The Province of Viterbo is a province in the Lazio region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Viterbo. It is bordered to the north by the Province of Grosseto and Siena, by the north-east with the Province of Terni and Rieti, in the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea and south by the Province of Rome.It...
in Latium
Latium
Lazio is one of the 20 administrative regions of Italy, situated in the central peninsular section of the country. With about 5.7 million residents and a GDP of more than 170 billion euros, Lazio is the third most populated and the second richest region of Italy...
. Since 1996, the white Trebbiano
Trebbiano
Trebbiano is the second most widely planted grape in the world. It gives good yields, but makes undistinguished wine at best. It can be fresh and fruity, but does not keep long. Its high acidity makes it important in Cognac production...
and Malvasia bianca based wines produced within the 1000 acres (404.7 ha) of the region can qualify for Denominazione di origine controllata
Denominazione di Origine Controllata
Denominazione di origine controllata is a quality assurance label for food products, especially wines and various formaggi . It is modelled after the French AOC...
(DOC) designation under Italian wine laws.
The unusual name of the wine region dates back to a 12th century tale of a German bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
traveling to the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
for a meeting with the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
. The bishop sent a prelate
Prelate
A prelate is a high-ranking member of the clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin prælatus, the past participle of præferre, which means "carry before", "be set above or over" or "prefer"; hence, a prelate is one set over others.-Related...
ahead of him to survey the villages along the route for the best wines. At a Montefiascone inn
INN
InterNetNews is a Usenet news server package, originally released by Rich Salz in 1991, and presented at the Summer 1992 USENIX conference in San Antonio, Texas...
, the prelate was reportedly so impressed with the local wine that he wrote Est! Est!! Est!!! (Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
for "It is") on the door so that the bishop would not fail to stop by. While this tale has been widely repeated, with some variations (such as the event taking place in the 10th century and/or involving a Flemish bishop,, attending the coronation of Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry V was King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor , the fourth and last ruler of the Salian dynasty. Henry's reign coincided with the final phase of the great Investiture Controversy, which had pitted pope against emperor...
instead of meeting the Pope, etc), the story is considered by many wine experts, such as Master of Wine
Master of Wine
Master of Wine is a qualification issued by The Institute of Masters of Wine in the United Kingdom...
Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Mary Ewing-Mulligan is an American author, wine educator and Master of Wine, the first American woman to achieve this accreditation. She has been the director of the school International Wine Center since 1984, and is executive director of the U.S. programs for the Wine & Spirit Education Trust...
, to be apocryphal.
Today, the wine region is known primarily for wine tourism
Wine tourism
Wine tourism refers to tourism whose purpose is or includes the tasting, consumption or purchase of wine, often at or near the source. Wine tourism can consist of visits to wineries, vineyards and restaurants known to offer unique vintages, as well as organized wine tours, wine festivals or other...
, catering to the visitors of Lake Bolsena
Lake Bolsena
Lake Bolsena is a crater lake of central Italy, of volcanic origin, which was formed starting 370,000 years ago following the collapse of a caldera of the Vulsini volcanic complex into a deep aquifer. Roman historic records indicate activity of the Vulsini volcano occurred as recently as 104 BC,...
north of Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, with comparatively little Est! Est!! Est!!! di Montefiascone being exported. Among wine critics, the wine often receives negative opinions with wine experts such as Hugh Johnson
Hugh Johnson (wine writer)
Hugh Johnson OBE is a British author and expert on wine. He is considered the world's best-selling wine writer.-Career:Johnson became a member of the Cambridge University Wine and Food Society while an undergraduate at King's College, Cambridge in the 1950s, while reading English...
and Jancis Robinson
Jancis Robinson
Jancis Mary Robinson OBE, MW is a British wine critic, journalist and editor of wine literature. She currently writes a weekly column for the Financial Times, and writes for her website jancisrobinson.com...
describing in The World Atlas of Wine
The World Atlas of Wine
The World Atlas of Wine by Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson, MW, is an atlas and reference work on the world of wine, published by Mitchell Beazley. It pioneered the use of wine-specific cartography to give wine a sense of place, and has since the first edition published in 1971 sold 4 million...
that Est! Est!! Est!!! di Montefiascone is "the dullest white wine with the strangest name in the world." (sic) Wine writer Joe Bastianich compares the region to the Tuscan wines from Vernaccia di San Gimignano
Vernaccia di San Gimignano
Vernaccia is a white Italian wine, made from the Vernaccia grape, produced in and around the Italian hill town of San Gimignano in Tuscany. Since the Renaissance it has been considered one of Italy's finest white wines...
saying that the region's "...history is more compelling than what's currently in the glass."
Origins of the name
While that is the basic outline of the story, over the centuries several variations have popped up that slightly change some of the details. One of the more detailed retelling can be found in Tom Stevenson
Tom Stevenson
Tom Stevenson is a British author who has been writing about wine for more than 30 years. Described by his colleagues as one of today’s most prolific wine authors, Stevenson is regarded as the world’s leading authority on Champagne...
's Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia where he pinpoints the events to late 1110 or early 1111 when a 12th century German bishop, Johann Fugger, was traveling to Rome for the coronation of Henry V as Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
. On his travels, Fugger sent his majordomo ahead of him to taste the local wines and report back which wines were Vinum est bonum. As with other retellings, the majordomo documented his research by writing Est in chalk on the door of the establishments whose wines he enjoyed and, being so impressed with the wines of Montefiascone, punctuated his message with multiple Est! Est!! Est!!!. But Stevenson also reports that the bishop, himself, was also so impressed with the wines that he canceled the rest of his journey and stayed in Montefiascone until his death. Today, there is a tomb in a local church in Montefiascone that claims to be the resting place of Bishop Fugger.
DOC regulations
The white blended wines of Est! Est!! Est!!! di Montefiascone received DOC status in 1966 and includes the volcanic soils encircling Lake Bolsena in the northern Latium region. According to DOC regulations, the must come from grapes grown within the 1000 acres (404.7 ha) DOC area around the commune of Montefiascone, located on the southern shores of the lake, and harvested to a maximum yieldYield (wine)
In viticulture, the yield is a measure of the amount of grapes or wine that is produced per unit surface of vineyard, and is therefore a type of crop yield...
of 13 tonnes/ha. The finished wine must have a minimum alcohol level of at least 11% and be composed of a blend of at least 65% Trebbiano (known locally as Procanico), 20% Malvasia bianca and no more than 15% Rosetto (known locally as Trebbiano Giallo).
Wine styles
Wine writer Joe Bastianich describes the wines of Est! Est!! Est!!! di Montefiascone as mildly aromatic with appleApple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
notes and high acidity. The wines can be produced in dry and sweeter abboccato styles. Locally, the wines are often paired with Roman cuisine
Roman cuisine
Ancient Roman cuisine changed over the long duration of this ancient civilization. Dietary habits were affected by the influence of Greek culture, the political changes from kingdom to republic to empire, and empire's enormous expansion, which exposed Romans to many new, provincial culinary habits...
such as fritto misto and deep-fried artichokes.
One major producer is Falesco
Falesco
Falesco is a winery and vineyard established in Montefiascone, Italy in 1979. Falesco has been described as a "state-of-the-art winery" and its production facilities are now located in Montecchio. It is a "family affair" run by Riccardo Cotarella, his brother Renzo and his daughter Dominga. ...
. Their version has been called a "generic Umbrian cheap white known around the world."