Vignaiolo pride

At the beginning of December, in Piacenza, the Mercato dei vini dei vignaioli indipendenti (the Wine market of independent vignaioli, "vine-dressers") went on stage, a real (divine) comedy dedicated to wine. So what is a vignaiolo? To those who are used to hearing about winemakers, oenologists, hyper-modern cellars and marketing in a glass, this term could stimulate a sudden posh accent. In our case, it put us in a good mood even before we began to taste. Vine-dressers are those who transform a territory into wine, those who wish for a very strong relationship with the people who enjoy drinking this wine. They are those who do everything by themselves. From cultivating to selling. They are their own staff, they are hard work turned into a person with a face, two hands and an unlimited passion. Meeting them in the lively chaos of Piacenza Expo was a memorable, non-poetic, experience. A prose worthy of a novel that draws directly on the earth. 

The first tasting, together with the friend and wine-scout Federico Malgarini, was of wines produced by Podere Il Saliceto in Campogalliano (Modena). How nice to discover this marriage between Sauvignon and Modena’s Trebbiano and the local Malbo Gentile both in the bottle-fermented and in the still version, together with Sangiovese and Merlot (photo). Just to let you understand the spirit that was drifting in those pavilions, Marcello Righi, the leader, didn’t think twice before leaving his station and coming with us to visit Samuele Bianchi and the Il Calamaio winery in Lucca.

From under the counter, a white, cloudy wine made from a blend of Chardonnay, Petit Arvine and Petit Manseng appeared. It was an explosion of still evolving notes of green pear and Granny Smith apple, but with great potential. Just like Samuele and Marcello, there were very few people here who would give themselves airs. Even the over 3 thousand participants, like us, were only too happy to make encounters rich in history and to bring home, at a correct price, bottles full of character though perhaps not noble.

«That of a vine-dresser is not a job ». Hearing this sentence pronounced by Ferruccio Carlotto, a wine-grower in Ora (Bolzano), +39.0471.810407, while his Pinot Noir Filari di Mazzon sublimed our nose and palate with small fruits of the forest and a silky persistence, confirmed that the majority of those on the other side of the tasting counters were not calculators, or speculators, and not even amateurs. Rather, they were faithful lovers of the vine and its fruits.

Of the 176 vine-dressers present (counting those in the guide), 108 work less than 10 hectares of vineyards and 65 less than 5: a fact that certainly doesn’t make one think of scale economies, but only of economizing and giving oneself what is truly necessary: a new press, a new autoclave. Or a new vineyard, the one on which one has set one’s eyes for years. This is the case of Mattia Filippi and of his one and only hectare of vineyard in Faedo (Trento). A hilltop looked after as though it were a child, with the vineyard covering the whole fertile cone and producing a Cabernet Sauvignon riserva with a memorable balance, called Equinotium in honour of the ancient harvest feast, that took place exactly on the most balanced day of the year.

While Mattia tells us about his story and his philosophy of “erring wine-grower” he looks everything but a balanced thirty-something. Nonetheless, you listen to him and you’re perfectly at ease. And when you think about this a few days later, you smile and wish to meet him again.