Malvasia and Corinto Nero on Lipari by Nino Caravaglio

Transcript:
This is the old crater that later became the origin of many Lipari wines.
It is situated here in this place between the two mountains, Monte Guardia and Monte Gallina.
We are here at 100 m from the sea.
So the vines are here, you will see them when we go down, to the left.
Then there is the central part, L-shaped.
And then there are three terraces here in the back.
This area is known for Corinto nero.
The soil is composed of pumice rocks, ash and sand.
Even in august the soil is not super wet,
but it is wet enough from below. It is a crater.
It gets the vapor up towards the vines. This is good for the vines.
The soil, however, is almost like talc that raises you up a bit.
Because of this composition of ash and pumice.
This vineyard was started with ungrafted vines.
We took 1,2 m plants, and we planted them 1 m below the ground.
All pre phylloxera vines are ungrafted.
Therefore, our winery has ungrafted vineyards, pre phylloxera.
We replanted them with ground layering method.
After 50-60 years of producing the fruit, the vine is depleted. So with ground layering,
we placed the plant entirely in the digged trench.
With this method, one leave only the most productive bud outside.
You cannot really see grafted vines here.
This method takes time.
But now see how robust the vines are.
In a way it is against the law. One cannot replant ungrafted vines.
Ungrafted vines here are 50% original, and the rest replanted with this method.
In fact the authorities want the certification when we produce the wine.
So should I make public your last comments? I don't know.
When I took over this very old soil
I could not understand where was the original root.
There is a series of roots.
This is the soil that stayed untouched from pre phylloxera times.
So it is full of micro elements.
We have vineyards in the Commune di Malfa which are 20-30 years old.
We are planting beans along the rows
up until October - November, and we eliminate them in March.
Here we do not need them,
as the rocks and other micro elements in the soil
are feeding the plant, and you can see how robust it is.
And it is not like these elements can go some place else.
How come one can not fall in love with this place.
In our winery we have around 40 very small plots of land,
scattered on the entire island,
on different altitude above the sea level.
We mostly have Malvasia di Lipari
to make sweet Passito wines.
We let the grapes dry
in the hot sun.
When the days are not so hot, and the air is circulating,
we put the grapes outside, but the sun can burn the skins, so we still protect them.
As the sun in end of August
or September can cause problems.
Skins are important for extracting aromatic notes, typical of the variety.
Malvasia grapes for this wine were picked up end of September.
In the Val di Chiesa area,
which looks like a saddle between the two mountains,
Monte Porre and Monte Fossa delle Felci. This is Monte Fossa delle Felci. This is Monte Porre.
Here the area is flat.
The soil is very fertile. And we grow Malvasia here.
And also other white varieties, such as Catarratto, Inzolia.
The highest point is 350 a.s.l.
We are in the island, so because of humidity, grapes mature later.
We harvest in the end of September.
After 3-4 weeks of maturation, we leave the wine in the contact with the skins.
The malolactic fermentation also starts at this time.
Then we place the wine in a tank, stabilize, and leave fermenting on the lees until June.
[Musica]