Lungarotti

Giorgio Lungarotti, the son of land-owners, studied agriculture at the University of Perugia and worked alongside his father in managing the family estate, experimenting with viticulture, olive-growing, fruit orchards, tree cultivation, and cattle and swine husbandry. In the 1950s he managed the passage from share-cropping to direct management of the family company and gradually specialized in viticulture, a choice that led to the opening of the Cantine Lungarotti winery in the 1960s. Rubesco and Torre di Giano were first made from the 1962 vintage, and the year 2012 marked both fifty years of Rubesco and fifty years since Giorgio founded the company. In 1968 Torgiano received the DOC appellation for its Rosso and Bianco wines, the first DOC awarded to Umbria, and in 1990 the DOCG was granted to Torgiano Rosso Riserva, with retroactive recognition to the 1983 vintage. Giorgio Lungarotti was instrumental in the creation of the Torgiano DOC, and the creation of the Montefalco DOC in 1979 was made possible in part by his contribution. In 1981 he founded the Banco di Assaggio dei Vini d'Italia (BAVI) wine competition in Torgiano, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Region of Umbria. Giorgio Lungarotti (d. 1999) was succeeded at the head of the Lungarotti companies by his daughter Chiara in 1999, and the company remains family-managed.

• 1962: first vintage of Rubesco and Torre di Giano
• 1968: Torgiano DOC for Rosso and Bianco, the first DOC in Umbria
• 1979: Montefalco DOC, created with Giorgio Lungarotti's contribution
• 1990: Torgiano Rosso Riserva DOCG, retroactive to the 1983 vintage
• 2000: purchase of 20 hectares in Montefalco
• 2024: launch of Progetto 1962

The company is managed by the sisters Chiara Lungarotti and Teresa Severini. Chiara Lungarotti, the CEO, entered the company in the early 1990s and holds a degree in Agriculture with a specialization in Viticulture. Teresa Severini holds an Enology degree from the University of Perugia and a specialization from the oenology institute of the University of Bordeaux; she is the company's marketing and communications manager and, since 2000, President of the Torgiano Wines Consortium. Teresa's son Francesco is the Export Director, and her daughter Gemma works with the Lungarotti Foundation on the artistic collections of the MUVIT and MOO museums. The Lungarotti team numbers over one hundred people.

• Chiara Lungarotti: CEO
• Teresa Severini: marketing and communications manager
• Francesco: Export Director
• Over one hundred people on the team

Lungarotti farms 250 hectares (600 acres) of vineyards in Torgiano and Montefalco. Torgiano is the heart of the group and home to the Monticchio vineyard, source of Rubesco Riserva Vigna Monticchio: it lies on the Brufa hillside at 300 metres (985 feet) with a west-southwest exposure, covers 15 hectares (37 acres), and its soils are of lacustrine origin, with layers of clay alternating with sandy layers. Vineyards in the Pometo area supply the young Tenuta Pometo wines. In 2000 the family purchased 20 hectares in Montefalco and planted vineyards for Sagrantino, Montefalco Rosso and Sagrantino Passito; the winery at Turrita di Montefalco has completely underground cellars, with grape loading and vinification by gravity. The Montefalco wines were to be certified organic from the 2014 harvest after a three-year conversion, and the range is now labelled Tenuta Brancalupo, a 16-hectare Montefalco winery. Replanting from the mid-1990s adopted densities of 4,000 to 5,000 vines per hectare. Red grapes are mainly trained to double spurred cordon and some whites to double Guyot, and yields run from 1 kg per vine for Rubesco Riserva Vigna Monticchio, San Giorgio and Sagrantino to 2 kg for Rubesco and Rosso di Montefalco. The company uses neither chemical fertilizers nor herbicides. In 2018 it received V.I.V.A. sustainability certification, a scheme initiated by the Italian Ministry of the Environment for the wine sector; the company reports that it was the ninth Italian organization and the first in Umbria to obtain it. At Torgiano a biomass furnace produces energy from vine-pruning residues.

• 250 hectares (600 acres) of vineyards in Torgiano and Montefalco
• Vigna Monticchio: 15 hectares at 300 metres on the Brufa hillside
• Montefalco: 20 hectares purchased in 2000, underground cellars at Turrita di Montefalco
• Planting density of 4,000 to 5,000 vines per hectare since the mid-1990s replanting
• V.I.V.A. sustainability certification in 2018

The Torgiano estate range (Tenuta di Torgiano) on the company's technical-sheets page includes Torre di Giano (Bianco di Torgiano DOC), Torre di Giano Vigna il Pino, Rubesco (Rosso di Torgiano DOC), Rubesco Riserva Vigna Monticchio (Torgiano Rosso Riserva DOCG), Aurente (Torgiano Chardonnay DOC), San Giorgio (Umbria Rosso IGT), Vin Santo (Torgiano Vin Santo DOC), L'UM Bianco and L'UM Rosso, and three metodo classico sparkling wines: Extra Brut Millesimato 60 mesi, Brut Millesimato and Brut Rosè. Rubesco is the Lungarotti wine most exported worldwide; the 2022 is made from Sangiovese and Colorino, with 350,000 bottles produced; its name, a Lungarotti trademark created by Maria Grazia Marchetti Lungarotti, comes from the Latin verb rubescere, to blush. Rubesco Riserva Vigna Monticchio has been a selection from the Monticchio vineyard since its first harvest in 1964 and is produced only in the best vintages; the 2020 is pure Sangiovese, aged about 12 months in barriques and large barrels and then 3 years in bottle. Torre di Giano was first released with the 1962 vintage; the 2025 blends Vermentino, Grechetto and Trebbiano, with 200,000 bottles produced; its name recalls a tower once dedicated to Janus. Giorgio Lungarotti experimented with Cabernet Sauvignon before it became popular in Italy and created San Giorgio in the 1970s. Tenuta Brancalupo makes Trebbiano Spoletino, Montefalco Rosso, Montefalco Sagrantino, Ilbio and Sagrantino Passito; the Tenuta Pometo range includes Grechetto, Trespo, Vermentino, Pinot Grigio, Sangiovese, Brezza, Cadetto and Dulcis. Progetto 1962, launched in 2024, revisits the two original labels as Rubesco 62 and Torre di Giano 62.

• Rubesco: Rosso di Torgiano DOC; the 2022 is Sangiovese and Colorino, 350,000 bottles
• Rubesco Riserva Vigna Monticchio: Torgiano Rosso Riserva DOCG, first harvest 1964
• Torre di Giano: Bianco di Torgiano DOC; the 2025 blends Vermentino, Grechetto and Trebbiano, 200,000 bottles
• Montefalco Sagrantino: from Tenuta Brancalupo; the 2021 is 100% Sagrantino
• Progetto 1962: Rubesco 62 and Torre di Giano 62, launched in 2024

Giorgio Lungarotti founded the Wine Museum of Torgiano (MUVIT) and the Olive and Oil Museum (MOO) in Torgiano, as well as the Lungarotti Foundation in 1987, with the collaboration and curatorship of his wife, the art historian Maria Grazia Marchetti. The Wine Museum was founded in 1974; its twenty rooms guide the visitor through 5,000 years of wine history. The Lungarotti Group also includes the Le Tre Vaselle Resort in Torgiano and the Poggio alle Vigne and Il Pometo properties at Brufa, and visits and tastings at the Montefalco estate are by appointment.

• Wine Museum of Torgiano (MUVIT) founded in 1974
• Olive and Oil Museum (MOO) in Torgiano
• Lungarotti Foundation established in 1987
• Le Tre Vaselle Resort in Torgiano

Lungarotti's 2022 technical sheet presents Rubesco as a medium-bodied red refined one year in casks and one in bottle, with 'hints of pepper, cinnamon and tobacco; background notes of red-fruit jam and violet.' For Rubesco Riserva Vigna Monticchio, the company's sheet gives a life-span that 'can easily surpass 50 years' if the wine is kept in the proper conditions. Writing in Decanter, Sarah Lane called the Riserva 'a multi-award-winning Sangiovese cru with delicious complexity and balsamic elegance.' With Progetto 1962 the company moved Rubesco 62 and Torre di Giano 62 toward 'a more flowing, fresh, immediate and transversal tasting style,' made from vines resilient to climate change, such as Sangiovese and Trebbiano, with a slightly early harvest.

• Rubesco 2022: medium-bodied, one year in cask and one in bottle
• Rubesco Riserva Vigna Monticchio 2020: 25 to 28 days of maceration, about 12 months in oak, 3 years in bottle
• Progetto 1962: a slightly early harvest from vines such as Sangiovese and Trebbiano

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://lungarotti.it/eng/, https://lungarotti.it/eng/about/, https://lungarotti.it/eng/family/, https://lungarotti.it/eng/estates/, https://lungarotti.it/eng/vineyards/, https://lungarotti.it/eng/rubesco/, https://lungarotti.it/eng/wine-sheet/, https://lungarotti.it/eng/culture/, https://lungarotti.it/eng/sustainability/, https://lungarotti.it/eng/tenutabrancalupo/, https://lungarotti.it/eng/progetto1962/, https://lungarotti.it/eng/wine-range-explorer/, https://lungarotti.it/eng/group/, https://lungarotti.it/eng/ilpometo/, https://lungarotti.it/eng/estate-torgiano/, https://lungarotti.it/eng/estate-montefalco/, and the estate's technical sheets (PDF): https://www.lungarotti.it/files/schede/Lungarotti_Rubesco_en.pdf, https://www.lungarotti.it/files/schede/Lungarotti_Rubesco_Riserva_en.pdf, https://www.lungarotti.it/files/schede/Lungarotti_Torre_di_Giano_en.pdf, https://www.lungarotti.it/files/schede/Lungarotti_Sagrantino_en.pdf. Secondary sources: Wine Spectator (21 April 1999) and Decanter (Sarah Lane, last updated 18 May 2023). Last verified 2026-10-14. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.