Below are the wines to be featured in the virtual wine tasting event that is being auctioned on Thursday, May 13, 2021. If you are interested in participating in the auction. here is the link to the auction page. https://e.givesmart.com/events/lnU/i/_All/dOIv/?search= The wines are from small family operated vineyards throughout several regions in Southern Italy. All the wineries produce either natural, low/minimal intervention or EU certified organic wines. Please see my blog post of May 5, 2021 for a discussion of what constitutes natural, low/minimal intervention and EU certified organic wines. https://southernitalywine.com/natural-wines-low-or-minimal-intervention-wines-and-the-use-of-additives/
Originally, there were to be six bottles to be included in the tasting, but I have added a bonus seventh bottle. The first two wines are made with grapes from vineyards adjacent to active volcanoes; Mt. Vesuvio located just outside the city limits of Naples and Mt. Etna located in northeast Sicily. The Mt. Vesuvio wine is made with falanghina grapes and the Mt. Etna wine is made with nerello mascelese and nerello cappuccino grapes. The third wine is made with the gaglioppo grape from a vineyard located near the Ionina Sea in Ciro` Marina, Calabria. The next wine is made from a blend of aglianico and piedirosso grapes from a vineyard located on the Amalfi Coast with panaromic views of the Bay of Salerno. The fifth and sixth wines are aglianico based wines from the Irpinia and Vulture area of Campania and Basilicata, respectively. These two areas are noted for the excellence in aglianico based wines. The “bonus” bottle is made with a blend of “rediscovered” pallagrello nero and casavecchia grapes, grown only in the Campania province of Caserta.
FloraMi – Conlebucce 2018 is a natural wine made with the falanghina grape from a vineyard located in Trecase, Napoli, Campania. The husband wife team of Mario Terzo and Mila Abagnale started the winery in 2013. They are both engineers from Napoli. The vineyard is located at the foot of Mount Vesuvius at an altitude of 300 meters. Mario and Mila produce ungrafted falanghina grapes, which means the rootstock is original, not American rootstock. Over 100 years ago the Phylloxera, an aphid type insect, destroyed the roots of almost all the Italian grapevines, except those in sandy volcanic soil. The American rootstock is impervious to the Phylloxera, hence, Italian vines with rootstocks not in sandy volcanic soil have American rootstock.
Quantico – Etna Rosso 2018 is a natural wine made with a blend of nerello mascalesele (90%) and nerello cappuccino (10%) grapes from a vineyard located in Solicchiata, Catania, Sicily. Giovanni Raiti’s family has produced wine for personal and local consumption since 1900. In 2009, Giovanni decided to produce wine for regional and international markets. With vines that are 80 to 90 years old he works in collaboration with his good friend and enologist Pietro di Giovanni to produce Etna Rosso. Collaboration among small producers, as with Giovanni and Pietro, is common in Southern Italy.
Sergio Arcuri – Piu` Vite 2013 – a natural red wine from Ciro` Marina, Crotone, Calabria made with the gaglioppo grape. In 2009 Sergio along with his brother Francesco modernized the family’s winemaking techniques. Interestingly, Piu` Vite ferments in cement tanks. Sergio Arcuri is one of the founding members of the “Ciro` Revolution”, which is a group of small producers dedicated to the production of natural wines with the indigenous gaglioppo grape. Also, Sergio Arcuri is a member of the Triple A Movement, an association of natural wines, which is described in my May 5, 2021 blog post, which is linked above.
Le Vigne di Raito – Ragis 2015 – a certified EU organic wine from Vietri sul Mare, Salerno, Campania (the eastern most town located on the Amalfi Coast) made with a blend of aglianico (60%) and peidirosso (40%) grapes. The owner, Patrizia Malanga, purchased the terraced land in 2001. It took Patrizia six years before she produced her first vintage. To appreciate the difficult labor to be encountered by her workers associated with maintaining a terraced vineyard, Patrizia, herself, planted the vineyard. Le Vigne di Raito features panoramic views of the Bay of Salerno. Le Vigne di Raito wines are EU certified organic.
Michele Laluce – Le Drude 2012 – a low/minimal intervention wine from Vulture area of Potenza, Basilicata made with the aglianico grape. Michele Laluce, along with his wife Maria and four daughters, operates the winery. Caterina, who is studying economics, manages the finances of the winery, Maddalena, an enologist, is the wine-maker, Donatella, an agronomist operates the machinery and manages the farm animals, and Michela is studying culinary. The family has been making wine since 1905, but only for regional and international markets since 2005. Laluce wines are low/minimal intervention wines. The fermentation begins with indigenous yeasts and depending on how that fermentation process is progressing (or not) neutral yeasts may be added.
Il Cancelliere – Nero Ne’ 2015 (Taurasi) – a natural red wine from the Irpinia wine region of Avellino, Campania made with the aglianico grape from vineyards that are 450 to 550 meters high. The wines have no sulfites added. Soccorso Romano, the patriarch, produced the first vintage from his family estate in 2005. Today, his wife, children and in-laws all assist Soccorso in the vineyard and the cellar. Il Cancelliere is one of few wineries that produce a non-frizzante aglianico based wine with no sulfites added. Il Cancelliere wines are listed in RAW WINE, the association of natural, low intervention and organic wines, described in my May 5, blogpost, which is linked above.
Terre del Principe – Piancastelli 2014 – a certified EU organic wine from Castel Campagnano, Caserta, Campania made with a blend of the pallagrello nero (70%) and the casavecchia (30%) grapes. Peppe Mancini and Manuela Piancastelli became interested in wine making after they were established in their careers as an attorney and journalist, respectively. Peppe recalling the days of his youth when his grandfather would make wine from pallagrello grapes (both the pallagrello nero and pallagrello bianco), forgotten grapes from a bygone era, dedicated himself to reviving these nearly extinct grapes. While doing so, Peppe rediscovered the casavecchia grape. In 2003, after a few years at another winery, Peppe and Manuela established Terre del Principe. Their wines are EU certified organic.
