Tradition and Science combined to produce Great Wines.
Cantine del Notaio is a leading company in Italy’s wines production panorama: it is no coincidence that during the Vinitaly 2018 it received numerous awards for individual wines and as a producer was elected “Winery of the Year”. These are in addition to the over 600 prizes and awards already obtained both in Italy and abroad.
But, inside the bottles of great wines there is not only that inebriating liquid that we love so much, there are also many other things: there are in fact the stories of those who produce it and of the places where the vines grow. There are the traditions, the passions, the dreams, the joys and the sorrows of those who live the earth and its seasons. An excellent wine is never born by chance.
To all this is no exception the story of Gerardo, a 7-year-old boy who one day watched, almost fearfully, the elderly grandfather cultivating the vines at the foot of the great dormant volcano. Almost like a prophecy, that day he knew that those vineyards would be his, because he had the same name as the grandfather.
Time passes and that child is now Dr. Gerardo Giuratrabocchetti, a graduate in Agricultural Sciences who, after a few years of free profession, decides to follow the path indicated by his grandfather many years before. This is how the “Cantine del Notaio” was born in 1998, in Rionero in Vulture (Pz). A company with a modern “cut”, but strongly linked to traditions, starting from what is its main “mission”: the cultivation and enhancement of the Aglianico del Vulture vine; a variety already known to the ancient Greeks, as well as to the Latin poets and which is fortunate to grow in fertile soils of volcanic origin, particularly favorable to the cultivation of certain grapes thanks to the minerality of the soil and the underlying tuffaceous layers that maintain constant hydration.
Of course, times have changed and you no longer work as in the days of grandfather Gerardo. Now in the company’s forthy hectares of land, new selection and cultivation techniques are always experimented, with a scientific approach inspired by Biodynamics, which optimize and improve production in full respect of the plant and the soil on which it grows. Ancient varieties cultivated historically in the region are also researched and rediscovered. But not enough: the strong link with the past is also maintained by the recovery of ancient caves of the seventeenth century in order to preserve the wines in an ideal environment, given by the happy microclimatic balance guaranteed by the tuffaceous environment. These cellars can also be “explored” during the tasting tours organized regularly by the company.
Since its foundation, Cantine del Notaio has followed a scientific and experimental approach also from an oenological point of view which, after years of experience in the field, has led to what is nowadays production: 4 red wines, a sparkling red wine, two rosé wines and two sparkling Classic Method, all from Aglianico del Vulture. The different harvest dates of the fruits, and the different techniques of vinification and aging in French oak barrels so show us what can be various declensions of this great grape. Alongside this main production, there are also other Moscato and Malvasia wines which are also part of the cultivars traditionally present in the Vulture area, some distillates and an EVO monocultivar oil.
The name of the company is a tribute to Consalvo, the father of Gerardo, who practiced for many years the profession of Notary in Rionero and from this was born also the idea of naming the different wines with a proper terminology, notarial. Here then the red wines become “La Firma”, “Il Repertorio”, “L’Atto” and “Il Sigillo”, while the sparkling one is “Il Protesto”, the rosè are called “Il Rogito” and “La Scrittura”. The two sparkling wines Metodo Classico “La Stipula”, in the white and rosé varieties. Apart from the undoubted originality, all this contributes even more to highlight the strong bond to those family and traditional values that, regardless of the historical times, are and will always remain the founding values of viticulture and quality wine production.
Thanks, Grandpa Gerardo!
CANTINE DEL NOTAIO – RIONERO IN VULTURE (PZ)
Texts © iBESTmag – Images courtesy Cantine del Notaio – Reproduction Forbidden
