Plani Arche – Rosso di Terra IGT (BIO) 2022 75 cl.
Organic Wine – Umbria – Italy
Plani Arche is a small, craft-focused producer in Umbria—“Italy’s green heart”—with a clear emphasis on organic farming and an approach that aims to reflect place rather than polish an international style. Behind the name are Roberto Di Filippo and Elena Pompeii, who work in the central Umbrian areas of Colli Martani and Montefalco, where local grape varieties and an inland climate produce wines with nerve, structure, and an earthy tone. The philosophy is rooted in ethical, hands-on vineyard work and in letting the grapes’ character emerge through gentler methods both in the vineyard and in the cellar.
Rosso di Terra is a wine that captures the producer’s signature: rustic yet precise, distinctly Umbrian, and marked by a clear sense of earth and mineral. The wine is made from a typically Umbrian red grape material (the producer states it as a local Umbrian red variety) grown on limestone- and clay-influenced soils in hilly terrain. In the cellar, fermentation is carried out with skin contact and with naturally occurring yeast strains, which often brings more texture and a slightly more “raw” aromatic spectrum than fully controlled fermentations.
What truly sets Rosso di Terra apart is its maturation: the wine spends about a year in a buried amphora. This kind of ageing tends to soften tannins and build complexity without adding oak flavours, and the expression here is clear: aromas lean toward red fruit, leather, and a character that can evoke terracotta, with a lightly developed, almost oxidative nuance that makes the wine especially food-friendly. On the palate it is intense, complex, and persistent, with good acidity and a firm tannic structure—a wine that happily meets dishes with both richness and umami.
Serving and food in practice
Serve slightly cooler than room temperature (around 16–18 °C) to preserve freshness and precision.
Aeration helps, especially if the bottle is young: 30–60 minutes in a decanter or a large glass is usually enough to open up the aromas.
Best with dishes such as grilled or slow-braised meat, game, mushrooms and truffle-leaning flavours, as well as aged hard cheeses.
