On our Autumn 2022 trip to Italy we worked closely with our partner-in-vino, Daniele Sassi, to work with two new vineyards. They are as different as night and day except for one common element — brilliant winemaking. Starting with our Spring, 2023, their wines will be brought to Delaware for your enjoyment.
The first vineyard is more than a little close to home: Giovanni Chiappini. His beautiful vineyard and estate, which is family owned and operated, is in the renowned Bolgheri appellations of central Italy along the Ligurian coast in Tuscany. However, his family story is of very close personal interest to our family due to the fact that he was born and raised in our home town — Ripatransone in the Adriatic coast Province of Ascoli Piceno.
Immediately following the end of World War II, the Italian government re-populated this incredibly fertile seaside plain for vegetable production intended for the export market. A recruiter (that’s another story for later) located and enticed 60 families from Ripatransone, all skilled in farming, to re-locate to this new land, Giovanni Chiappini’s family was one of the 60. Now, his tediously and assiduously-assembled estate rivals the great vineyards of the Bolgheri region.
You will meet the family in the Spring of next year.
Moving south, Daniele introduced us to a young winegrower from the southern Campagna … south of Naples … south of the Amalfi … almost to Calabria. High in the seaside hills is the Fiasco family property where granddaughter Francesca, under the tutelage of her Nonno, has built a new azienda from the rocky countryside and reinvigorated a number of very old vineyards. While these vineyards may not produce volume, they yield intensity and sophistication.
Her wines are exciting blends of these old vines that have been nurtured for decades by her Nonno. While they may be old by chronological time standards, they are young and vibrant in terms of their elegance and the enjoyment they offer.