Very late harvest, kind of unique for a dry wine, with no-overripe grapes: it occurs in November and without Botrytis. Aglianico has probably the longest vegetative cycle among all the wine varietals, from the bud break in April to the harvest in November.
Extremely low yield per hectare: we seek the maximun phenolic ripeness. In 4 vintages the yield has been around 11-12 hl/ha.
Quality, as understood by this winery, cannot be considered from anything other than a very low yield. This fact for most winegrowers would be unreasonable. However, I estimate that such a meagre yield per plant, rather, per bunch, and their health, is the base of a high-quality wine: and not the base of a wine that is too alcoholic, as is often mistakenly thought. My grapes reach an alcohol level of barely 14 percent even though they are among the last to be harvested and with yields significantly lower than those that can even reach 16 percent of alcohol in the same vintages.
We have the luxury to harvest because the skin it is ripe and not because there is too much sugar/alcohol.
This can happen when there is a real vegetative-productive balance in the vineyards, especially in the Alta Valle del Calore (a river), that is located in Irpinia (area with 2/3 mountains e 1/3 hills), where South ideally meets North: an area with an astonishing terroir at the mercy of an incredible range of temperatures - sometimes a difference of 20 degrees centigrade between day and night- allowing for a viticulture that is difficult to find elsewhere.
The soil is very complex: calcareous clay, sometimes tuffaceous, rich in stones and volcanic ash that came from ancient eruptions, interspersed with layers of silt or sand where you can find fossils from the pliocenic sea
Today we have 6 hectares of vineyards in total:
From these hectares we produce only one wine, the Paterico, in a very limited number of bottles.
In all these vineyards is planted only one variety: the Aglianico. This variety is unique since it starts the veraison (berries become dark and starts accumulating sugar) only when most of the other varieties are already in harvest or harvested. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to say that Aglianico in the Alta Valle del Calore is less affected by the climatic change issues than other grapes and areas.
In the 1970, 4 years after Barolo and Brunello, was approved The Taurasi appellation: as a monovarietal wine from Aglianico, capable of a very long ageing.
In comparison with the wines of the most famous Italian appellations, our wine have lower PH, higher acidity, higher tannin concentration, and surely more colour.
No digging or ploughing happens in our vineyards. We are no till. We use spontaneous grassing that preserves biodiversity of the soil, since 90% of the biodiversity is into the soil and not above it. The soil is not in fact “soil” but a complex biological structure built by billions of living beings. Grassing favours microorganisms, and their complex interactions within the structuring of the soil, also rendering it less vulnerable to erosion, bringing nutrients to the roots, protecting them from Phyto-pathologies and storing more carbon that has an essential role in the equilibriums that regulate the greenhouse effect.
Of course by using the grassing method insects also benefit. Butterflies and other pollinators benefit and subsequently the birds that feed on them. The whole ecosystem benefits. Moreover, nearly all the vineyards are close to forests.
There is no fertilization here.
There is no cutting the tops of the vines, that we roll along the steel cables, allowing the maximum phenolic ripeness with the minimum sugar accumulation.
To protect the vines from pathologies we use only algae or herbs, propolis and fungi, copper and sulphur (mostly in liquid form) in small quantities.
I have always believed that the wine must reflect the grape, the pure transparent flavour of the grape brought to its optimal maturity for a quality wine. This belief has accompanied me for thirty years.
Grapes are harvested in small containers, then they are destemmed and go on a sorting table where 6 people inspect them one by one, and eventually discard.
There is no crushing. Vinification is whole bunch. Then the berries go in the fermentation vats (wood, amphoras or steel) without adding sulphites: we in fact we try not to fear the apiculate yeasts that donate complexity to wines and produce less alcohol than the Saccharomyces yeasts.
As we do not fear long macerations: in 2019 we arrived to 4 months on the skin. We love sweet tannins, as we love acid freshness, but both integrated in the body of the wines.
When we rack, to open those berries that are still whole, we use a little and slow vertical press that is paradoxically set at ‘zero pressure’, basically doing a ‘late crush’.
The wine therefore remains technically ‘un-pressed’, and still without sulphide, thanks to the big amount of anthocyanins, a low pH and high acidity, until the malolactic fermentations, spontaneous ones and incredibly late: they usually starts at the very end of August, when the upper part of the cellar reaches 20 degrees and the anthocyanins reached some polymerisation. This very late malolactic process seems to guarantee, together with the other mentioned analytical data, a long life to the wines.
But for this estate is also very important the maturity of the wines: wine is a living entity and we aim to bottle wines only when they are mature.
We use a special oak supplier, with special ageing and thickness to ensure the very right amount of oxygen in the long maturation time. We do not like toast in barrels.
No stabilization is allowed, if not with the natural cold in winter. There is no filtration whatsoever.
The cellar was conceived underground and not thermo-conditioned.
We would be happy to advise you on the Paterico by Gian Luca Mazzella or provide you with further details.
