“When the uniqueness of the territory meets the genius of men, viticulture becomes indispensable as an expression of history, geography and culture.”
Ruggero Mazzilli in Appunti per il vignaiolo naturale
When it was time to plant the vinyard, I didn’t think about it for a moment: it was my opportunity to do what I love, to work with Nature, to bring home the fruits of my job, exactly speaking.
Our approach is made of humbleness, every year we try to learn something more and improve ourselves, regardless of what Mother Nature offers us.
By now we know the vineyard like the back of our hands, because we can work four hectares on our own, which allows us to know all the vines one by one. And if something goes wrong, you can only blame yourself. We are very jealous of pruning. We take care of the vineyard all year round, and every year we prune it, tie the shoots, clean the sub-row and select the shoots to have a yield per hectare adequate to guarantee an excellent quality.
During harvest time, done with the help of people we can call friends and relatives, we regret every ruined bunch. Sometimes they are human errors, sometimes it is Nature that plays tricks on us. The harvest takes place in several stages, depending on the degree of ripeness reached by the grapes and the time available before the heavy autumn rains.
Ours is an artisanal and scrupulous viticulture, without compromises. Artisan means that most of the job is done by hands by us who manage the vineyard. Doing a job by hands, even if very tiring, makes you feel more human, makes you feel part of creation, reconnects you to seasons, rhythms and real life.
Compromises are always and only with Mother Nature, she is the one who leads, without any doubt, we can only pay attention and choose the best moment to get into action and give our contribution. Only with experience we can counteract the difficulties which arise in front of us due to climate changes.
In 1995 my father introduced the certification for organic agriculture, immediately after buying the property. I was part of a completely different world, I used to work for a printing house but I had been thinking about changing profession for some time.
I was trying to learn and I came across concepts of biodynamic agriculture: preserving the fertility of earth for future generations, feeding the planet, and so on. It was love at first sight. We follow the Demeter guidelines of Biodynamics and we are working to have a closed-cycle farm and obtain biodynamic certification.
Our vineyard in numbers
Grapes: Verdicchio 100%
Altitude: 430 a.s.l.
Exposure: south west
Soil: mainly clay, with patches of sand, rich in limestone
Vine breeding system: guyot mono or bilateral
Yeld per Ha: 7.5 quintals