GAGLIOPPO
We immediately thought of a vineyard, but we didn’t want to have something that everyone had. We like to be different.
We evaluated Sangiovese and Montepulciano because we were looking for a vine strongly linked to the territory, then we heard about this ancient vine, Gaglioppo, rediscovered a few years ago. The plant from which ours derives was registered in the land of our neighbor. Assam and the University of Ancona conducted research on it and it turned out to belong to this now endangered typology, before proceeding with its reintroduction.
Already in the 1960s, the Marche ampelologist Bruni recommended its reintroduction, “every year the aim is to replace a certain number of vines with good wine qualities such as Sangiovese, Gaglioppo, Bordeaux, etc., etc.”
The challenge became interesting and so we decided to plant only this ancient species for our red, which is difficult to manage and has very low yields but has a character all its own. As ours.
Why the punch. Simple, in dialect terms Gaglioppo is also called beautiful foot or closed fist and then, after the first tasting, what power, what tannins, it immediately sent us back to noble Piedmontese wines, the similarity with Nebbiolo is impressive, in shape and taste, two twins separated in the cot we thought.
From there we began to experiment with winemaking, in the first years total drying of the bunches in the fruit cellar but without wood, a successful experiment but perhaps for a few amateurs who love powerful wines, then we decreased the drying percentages and introduced oak wood. Today, we have abandoned drying and work more on long aging, up to 18 months in barrique and then up to a year in the bottle.
Now our wine is balanced with silky tannins and an acceptable alcohol level, we are happy with this new path and our Gaglioppo is always appreciated by our customers, now let’s start experimenting with rosé and see where this new adventure will take us.