President, the premises are really interesting: the cellar is surrounded by splendid vineyards. Constant slopes, fresh, clean air and healthy plants. What can you tell us about Piandimare?
«La Piandimare is a winery made up of farmers and members who have a great passion for the production of Montepulciano. We are in a super-suited territory we could say, for this variety, which expresses the highest quality we can find».
We know that a careful mass selection of Montepulciano plants was carried out. Can you explain to us what this means?
«We worked to select one of our clones with a massal selection from a 50-year-old vineyard that yielded excellent grapes. With the help of Vitis Rauscedo we were able to carry out the selection up to a real supply chain of only the Montepulciano Piandimare variety. So much so that the winegrower who has to replace his vines now plants the Piandimare clone to give the best quality».
What does Piandimare mean, the name of the locality from which the winery wanted to draw its own? A name that includes the words plain and sea. Tell us something more.
«The cellar was located on a hill where the sea existed in ancient times. When the land emerged and the sea descended to the valley, the name remained, that of a hill bathed by the sea. I let you imagine what this means translated into wine today: minerality, freshness, liveliness, balance».
In addition to the massal selection and the scrupulous work in the vineyard, we understand that you are very attentive to the environment.
«Certainly! One of our goals is to bring top quality grapes to the cellar to make great wines. But quality is achieved in the vineyard, in the countryside, by following rules, whether dictated by the workforce or dictated by chemistry. What I mean: we pay close attention to the pruning we do, leaf thinning, green pruning. But above all we pay close attention to the environment in terms of environmental health.
We are carrying out zero residue projects, chemically speaking, and we are converting the entire production of all suppliers from the integrated cultivation system to organic. So care and respect for the environment itself that gives us the grapes».
How many generations has your family been cultivating grapes and how did you arrive at this bottle of Montepulciano Maja?
«My family carries out this work starting from my grandfather first and then my father, three generations of winemakers with me. I am an agrotechnician and over the years I have felt that my passion had to shift to vineyard management where the love for one's work leads to satisfactions given by the fruits, the environment itself and the producers. This bottle for me is a dream that has come true over the years and in particular this is a very important bottle of Montepulciano where there is so much love, so much passion, so much dedication that goes from the winemakers to all the collaborators inside the cellar».
Three words with which you would define Piandimare.
«Men, passion for their work and territory. I don't want to add anything else. Because first of all this is needed to produce great wine».