There are well-established wine consultants in Southern Italy that have made significant contributions developing quality wines from a variety of indigenous grapes. Thirty years ago Southern Italy commercial wine business barely existred. Almost all farmers made wine, but the wine was for local use; it lacked structure to enable the wine to be drinkable over a period of time. With the assistance of a group of wine consultants such as Luigi Moio, Riccardo Coterella, Vincenzo Mercurio, Carmine Valentino, to name a few, highly acclaimed wines have emerged from the South from producers such as: Marisa Cuomo, Terre del Principe, Antonio Caggiano, Cantine del Notaio, Montevetrano, Galardi, Villa Matilde, Fattoria La Rivolta, Contrade di Taurasi, I Favati and Michele Alois, among others. During my visits to several of these wineries, I have been impressed by the passion and commitment to minimal non-natural intervention in the wine-making process.
These producers as well as other established producers are well represented by importers of wines such as Vias, Marc De Grazia, Leonard LoCascio, Vinifera, Masciarelli and others.
In my six years of travel to Southern Italy I have observed the emergence of young wine
consultants such as Fortunato Sebastiano and Gennaro Reale, and young importers such as Nick Mucci and Gemma Giannoni. During my most recent trip to Italy I met Fortunato at Musto Carmelitano, Maschito, Potenza and Gennaro at Regina Viarum, Falciano del
Massico, Caserta. Fortunato and Gennaro are partners in an enterprise called Vignaviva Azienda http://www.vignaviva.com. Their philosophy on wine-making is described in
their webpage section Ideas as follows:
“Viticulture is central to our partnerships and in our opinion should aim at improving the agricultural environment to better express the wine potential. The Oenology must accompany this expression with respect for the raw material and for the earth. A careful viticulture biological activity of the soil can produce grapes rich in nuances that are found in our wines: the soil has indeed a key role in the expression of a terroir wine together with the climate and human action.”
In my discussions with Fortunato and Sebastiano and with their clients it is apparent that Vignaviva adheres to a wine-making process in which there is minimal non-natural interventions; in short Fortunato and Gennero are avid proponents of sustainable viticulture.
In my quest to find wines from producers that Fortunato and Sebastiano consult on, I have come across two young Boston-based importers; Nick Mucci, http://mucciimports.com and Gemma Giannoni, http://www.giannoniselections.com both of whom are of Italian descent and after spending several years in Italy are fluent in Italian. Nick and Gemma import wines made by small producers, many of which are family operated wineries, that adhere to sustainable viticulture. Not surprisingly, Nick and Gemma import wines from producers that Fortunato and Sebastiano consult on: Le Vigne di Raito, Reale, Casa di Baal, Regina Viarum and Casebianche. All of these producers have had their wines featured in this blog. I recommend you visit Nick’s and Gemma’s website, locate a wine store near you and try these interesting wines.
