Last year our good friend, Gaetano Petrillo of The Wine Bus, encouraged us to visit the Region of Molise because it is one of two regions in Southern Italy that we had not visited. (Abruzzo is the other one – note even though Abruzzo geographically is central Italy, it is culturally associated with the South because it was part of Due Sicilia.) Gaetano described Molise as featuring rolling green mountains, quaint small villages and a sparsely populated area that is most welcoming to visitors. Gaetano was spot on: we stayed at an  agriturismo, Terra e Sapori http://www.agriterraesapori.it/ and were treated as family. We had tastings with hors d’oeuvre at three small wineries (described below), all make wine with Molise’s only indigenous red grape –  tintilia.

Molise is the second smallest region in both population and area. It is the newest established region, when in 1963 Molise separated from the Region of Abruzzo. Molise is the ancestral home of the Samnites a fierce warlike people that would routinely dominate the Roman Legions in battle. But over time, the Samnites became absorbed into Roman culture. Prior the unification of Italy, Molise was under the jurisdiction of the Due Sicilia, a monarchy that had governed Southern Italy  from 1816 to 1860. Molise was the name of a castle and a local warlord family.

Similar to many Southern Italian regions, Molise is experiencing a decline in population due to lack of employment opportunities. In an effort to slow the loss of population Molise is offering newcomers 700 euro per month for three years if they relocate to a town in Molise that has less than 2,000 people and open a business.   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/11/underpopulated-italian-region-molise.

Molise is bounded on the north by Abruzzo, the southwest by Campania, the southeast by Puglia, the west by Lazio and the east by the Adriatic Sea. Its food and wines are similar and influenced by these adjacent regions. As most Southern Italian regions, Molise has many lamb and pork products. Its cheeses are similar to those found in Campania: percorino, caciocavallo and scamorza. As in all Southern Italian regions, Molise has locally grown organic fruits and vegetables. Up until the late 1990s, the wines were made from grapes from other regions: Montepulciano and Trebbiano D’ Abruzzo; Falanghina, Greco and Fiano (most notably from Campania) Aglianico (Basilicata and Campania), Barbera (Benevento, Campania) and a wide variety of international grapes.

La Cantina di Remo

Roberto De Stefano, a self taught agronomist, manages the small family farm located 700 meters high in the town of Ferrazzano, which is less than 5 km from the city of Campobasso. In 1963

Roberto’s parents Remo and Elisa left Torino (Roberto’s birthplace) and returned to Ferrazzano, their land of origin, to farm 10 hectares of land. At first the family grew fruits and vegetables. Remo introduced the barbera grape (more than likely the varietal from adjacent province of Benevento, Campania) from which he made wine for family use. In 2005, Roberto repositioned the vineyard by replacing all grapes with the indigenous tintilia grape. This grape, which was the most widespread grape variety in Molise over 100 years ago, disappeared as a varietal post World War II due to the abandonment of farms. It was “re-discovered” in the late 1990’s. Many wineries now in Molise produce wine with the tintilia grape.

Roberto, who has a second job at a large cellar in Abruzzo for a company that produces generic and some label wines, produces only 6,000 bottles per annum at Cantina di Remo. He is organic in the vineyard; uses only copper and sulphur in the spring, but does add manure or fava beans as do many organic producers. Roberto has roses that act as sentinels to protect the grapes from disease (see section below on Azienda Agicola Cieri Camillo for a description of how rose plants protect the grapevines). He

knows every plant in his eight hectare vineyard and that the northwest section of the vineyard produces the best yield. In the cellar his wines are non-filtered and only a small amount of sulfites is added after two days of fermentation. He ages the wine primarily in stainless steel, but his Riserva will age in oak as will other vintages in years that Roberto has assessed to be difficult years for the grapes, such as 2014. Cantina di Remo was designated as Eco-Friendly in 2018 by Vini Buoni d’Italia Touring Club. The designation is for wineries committed to the protection of the environment,

Roberto hosted a tasting for Roseann and me. We had a  vertical tasting of Tintilia Uva Nera from his first vintage of 2009 up to his most recent vintage of 2015. He prepared a Caponata, a Molise dish, for us to enjoy with the wine. The Caponata included the following: green olives, dark olives, tomatoes, onions, carrots, celery biscotti, anchovy sauce and basil. We also had the famous Molise Caciocavallo Silano cheese.

Agicola VINICA

Rudolfo Gianserra, DDS established VINICA in 2007 in the town of Ripalimosani. VINICA consists of 220 hectares situated at altitudes between 500 to 700 meters. Half of the land is dedicated to trees (oak, beech, walnut, hazelnut, chestnut, wild cherry and Sorbo), fruits and vegetables. The balance of the land is dedicated to a variety of grapes. VINICA was certified organic in 2014. Grapes are hand harvested. VINICA wines are natural in that there is minimum intervention in the

cellar. Wines are spontaneously fermented with indigenous yeasts without temperature control at the cantina located at 600 meters. The wines are not filtered.

VINICA is a member of Raw Wine, a community of low intervention organic, biodynamic and and natural wines. https://www.rawwine.com/. Members of the Raw Wine community share the following characteristics: (1) Organic grapes, grown without the use of artificial chemicals; (2) Wine prepared by hand using artisanal techniques; (3) Made using traditional winemaking processes that enable balance; (4) Creating a living wine, with low intervention in the cellar; and (5) Promoting wellbeing in individuals & communities.

VINICA produces about 40,000 bottles per annum with both local and international grapes. In 2011 they produced their first vintage of Tintilia. The winery uses a Stelvin closure, which combines a screw cap with specific glass (BVS), head space and capping conditions and sophisticated liners tailor made for wine, as opposed to cork. This closure is not used in markets where cork is preferred by consumers. As explained cork allows more oxygen in a bottle which may be problematic for wines such as those produced by VINICA that have minimum sulfites added at bottling.

VINICA is named after Rodolfo’s children, VIttoria, NIcholas and CArole.

Azienda Agricola Cieri Camillo

In 1938 Camillo’s father, originally from Abruzzo, purchased  47 hectares of farmland located one mile from the Adriatric Sea in Termoli. Samantha Di Cesare, Camillo’s wife, met us upon our arrival at Cieri. Samantha gave us a tour of the vineyard. Cieri abides by organic farming practices as it does not use chemicals or pesticides in the vineyard. Cieri has an integrated pest management system and will only add biological treatment to protect the vines (i.e. sulfur). Similar to the other two Molise wineries that we visited, Cieri does not churn the soil. (See photo at top of tis post – it is Cieri’s vineyard.) This way the vines receive natural fertilization from the herbs and other plants that grow in the vineyard.

Samantha explained to us the significance of the rose plant at the head of the row of vines. In

previous blogs I  have written how the rose plant acts as a warning when the vines may be impacted by a virus. The virus will first attack the rose plant. Samantha explained that they have the canina rose because it is quick to identify when the plasmopara viticola (also known as downy mildew) sickness will harm the vines. This sickness occurs in the spring. When the sickness is detected, organic solutions are applied to protect the vines.

From 1938 to 1980 Cieri sold their grapes. Today, Cieri produces  about 96,000 bottles per annum. They produce nine different wines from trebbiano, falanghina, montepulciano, aglianico and the indigenous tintilia grapes. The aglianico grapes have the same DNA as the aglianico grapes from Vulture wine region in the Region of Potenza, Basilicata. In 2007 Cieri produced their first vintage of wine with the tintilia grape.  Cieri’s tintilia rose wine is considered one of the best rose in all of Southern Italy. Their falanghina wine also has been selected for special awards. Readers of my blog know I have written extensively on aglianico wines from Campania and Basilicata. The Cieri version of aglianico holds its own with these other aglianico wines; it trends more like a softer less volcanic influenced wine similar to aglianico wines from Cilento and outside of the City of Salerno. As for the tintilia, I enjoyed equally all three of the wineries expression of the tintilia grape.