producers visit

<p><strong><em>This visit to Cantina Giardino took place in November, 2013.</em></strong></p> <p><strong><em>Words by Jules Dressner, photos by Eben Lillie.</em></strong></p> <p>Before I start this recap, can we all agree that Antonio and Daniela di Gruttola&#39;s dogs look like they&#39;re up to no good in these pictures? I mean, seriously:</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Jul_17//ab/2a/ab2a8cabff27bd9e1c6af65cb2d58c00.jpg" /><br /> <br /> Look, they&#39;re even whispering shady things to each other!</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Jul_17//43/5d/435d1b738971435357f5833227e9ea18.jpg" /><br /> <br /> They were actually super nice, but because they are hunting dogs,&nbsp;both needed to be contained or they&#39;d kill everything non human/dog in sight. You know, animal instincts...</p> <p>After getting a little lost, Daniela came to get us and we stepped into the lovely di Gruttola abode. The first thing Eben spotted was this original piece of art that later served as inspiration for the&nbsp;&quot;<a href="http://callmewine.com/en/wine/aglianico-clown-oenologue-cantina-giardino.html">Clown Oenologue</a>&quot; label.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Jul_17//2c/41/2c418e92f39e971f53433d4c953d05a1.jpg" /><br /> <br /> I know 95% of people are afraid of&nbsp;clowns, but even they&nbsp;have to admit that that is a cool piece of art.<br /> <br /> Antonio was teaching at his school (his full time job), and Daniela informed us he would get back at around 3pm. So we had a massive&nbsp;lunch while we waited, which also permitted us to taste all of the currently <glossary title="185">bottled</glossary> Giardino wines. Amongst them, new <glossary title="617">magnum</glossary>&nbsp;<glossary title="185">bottlings</glossary> of both red and white were pretty great (and cheap!), but the favorite new guy was a <glossary title="778">Pet&#39; Nat&#39;</glossary> <glossary title="506">Greco</glossary>&nbsp;sourced from 80+ year old vines. Antonio and Daniela recently started renting this <glossary title="760">parcel</glossary> from an 86 year old woman who has always made this wine with her &quot;special technique&quot;, which as far as we could tell is&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="778">m&eacute;thode ancestrale</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> a style nary if ever produced in Italy.<br /> <br /> Antonio eventually showed up, and because the daylight hours were&nbsp;quickly dwindling, we all hurried into the di Gruttola&#39;s van to visit some vines.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Jul_17//12/6d/126daf66d0e80396208056c3e92c8790.jpg" /><br /> <br /> The vineyard is 2,5 <span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="523">hectares</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> and 250 plants. It&#39;s planted in <glossary title="443">Fiano</glossary> and&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="312">Coda di Volpe</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> the latter translating to&nbsp;&quot;tail of the fox&quot;<a href="http://wine-searcher.com/grape-108-coda-di-volpe">&nbsp;because of the variety&#39;s very long, atypical bunches.</a><br /> <br /> The vines themselves are extremely tall.&nbsp;</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Jul_17//7c/4a/7c4a2b6132d11caefc5ab474a6690293.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Jul_17//07/42/074224376c38ff77d277790cb63f4129.jpg" /><br /> <br /> To give you a better idea just how big these are, here is 6&#39;3 giant Eben Lillie standing next to one.&nbsp;</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Jul_17//25/b9/25b9c214b16bd5dc38ba1dc3acd55728.jpg" /><br /> <br /> Antonio and Daniela bought this vineyard a few years ago. It totals 2,5 <glossary title="523">hectares</glossary> of vines (the surrounding woods were also purchased to keep it an insolated &quot;<glossary title="305">clos</glossary>&quot;), was planted in 1933, and the soils consist of a very compact, sculptable <glossary title="301">clay</glossary> with <glossary title="596">limestone</glossary> <span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="991">subsoil</glossary><span>.</span></span></span>&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Jul_17//f6/0c/f60c1dc216fced32d9dc1615e0eedaaf.jpg" /><br /> <br /> This <glossary title="301">clay</glossary> is SO sculptable that Daniela now makes all of the <glossary title="427">estate</glossary>&#39;s hand-made <glossary title="103">amphoras</glossary> from it (more on that later).The di Grutolla&#39;s never work the soils of any of their vineyards.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> As the sun was setting, we cracked open two more of those <glossary title="471">frizzantes</glossary> to celebrate.&nbsp;</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Jul_17//32/b9/32b963dd6b9bde281c5dc30efa055852.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Jul_17//ad/83/ad836ae34e13c714ef976d0e9468aef7.jpg" /><br /> <br /> That&#39;s some dramatic imagery right there! Very majestic...<br /> <br /> By the time we got back to the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="254">cellar</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> it was already pitch black.&nbsp;</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Jul_17//af/41/af4143943e958b7a4b3b2117a9a07f1a.jpg" /><br /> <br /> The Cantina Giardino <glossary title="254">cellar</glossary> is rather small, but still packed full of every&nbsp;<glossary title="74">aging</glossary> <glossary title="1160">vessel</glossary> you could ever imagine.&nbsp;</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Jul_17//43/af/43af6ff29f9707f8fb8b68d33d4dc4be.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Jul_17//3e/55/3e5580c697476810a6f9724fac43afa8.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Jul_17//f4/a6/f4a6c0ffe5dcc837e3f6f2f58b6331e0.jpg" /></p> <p>In the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="254">cellar</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> we tasted a plethora of 2013 <glossary title="443">Fiano&#39;s</glossary> and <glossary title="506">Greco&#39;s</glossary> with varying amounts of&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="610">skin contact</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> as well as a bunch of yet to be released&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="75">Aglianicos</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> From what I could gather, it seems like the decisions are very instinctual and change each&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1109">vintage</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> meaning that the juices <glossary title="441">ferment</glossary> in different vessels each year, the <glossary title="610">skin contact</glossary> varies from wine to wine, as do the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="168">blends</glossary><span>.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> The wines we didn&#39;t get to taste were in these sealed, home-made&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="103">amphoras</glossary><span>.</span></span></span></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Jul_17//1d/17/1d17eb39cfe2ec6bc00632a33ca298bb.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Jul_17//c7/fb/c7fba213f0247b019649509822f33e26.jpg" /></p> <p>These are sealed in beeswax, and cracking them open to taste would expose the wine to a dangerous amount of&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="754">oxidation</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> It&#39;s kind of like a pressure cooker: you just need to let the contents do their things and until it&#39;s ready, trusting it&#39;ll be good.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Our final conversation revolved around the <glossary title="427">estate</glossary>&#39;s&nbsp;beautiful&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="573">labels</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> Daniela explained that the first three&nbsp;(&quot;Le Fole&quot;, &quot;Drogone&quot;&nbsp;and &quot;Nude&quot;) were done by three&nbsp;different artist friends. They were&nbsp;then put them in touch with others to do future&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="573">labels</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> The name of each <glossary title="363">cuv&eacute;e</glossary> inspires the art or vice versa.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <em>&quot;There is no real rhyme or reason to it.&quot;</em></p>

harvest report

<p><strong>November 14th, 2023:</strong></p> <p>This year was very difficult because we had 40 consecutive days of rain between May and June and it brought us a lot of <glossary term="Mildew" title="1137">mildew</glossary> in the vines. We then suffered two <glossary term="Hail" title="1136">hailstorms</glossary> in May and September. In total we lost about 70% of the production. However, the little bit of grapes left on the plants were of very good quality.<br /> The wines are very good for now and we are very happy with the quality and the outcome.</p> <p>The <glossary term="Fermentation" title="441">fermentations</glossary> are almost all finished, with the exception of some of the reds <glossary term="Vinification" title="1104">vinified</glossary> with&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Cap/Hat" title="234">submerged caps</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> but we we are very satisfied with the analysis on those.</p> <p>On the other hand, if we want to analyze the more &quot;human&quot; part of this&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Vintage" title="1109">vintage</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> we had a lot of fun, the <glossary term="Harvest" title="521">harvest</glossary> group was very interesting and stimulating, and there was no lack of opportunity to drink and be together! We even organized a wedding for the two Australian interns who were here for the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Harvest" title="521">harvest</glossary><span>!</span></span></span></p> <p>More than in other years, the&nbsp;wines of 2023 will be&nbsp;wines of instinct. Fortunately, the analyses confirmed that everything went well and we are very happy about that.</p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//988/6c/89/6c895f98d9fccfa354add1745c2798a7.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//988/b5/ac/b5ac07cd66dac033dabf138b993c8dea.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//988/c5/3c/c53cac24ece21007eb307827f76841b2.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//988/f3/7d/f37dc739d939495495bfc6a093494d7d.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//988/04/c0/04c0a935d73733b7bde28b510b29735d.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//988/4e/3e/4e3e7ee13cd10114e398cb99aecbc0f4.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//988/4e/2f/4e2f067e5affaa361e2637b441ea83e4.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//988/fb/bf/fbbf7f2e9af95537ed2c5fc3eaa1c99f.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//988/91/72/9172c344fe51beef6c579a0afe43a4d1.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//988/f0/e4/f0e4fefd11c5f88c2fb183a24aa0bc72.jpg" /></p>

harvest report

<p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//847/c6/f3/c6f3a5e82ce1249875a4085070620e7c.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//847/02/81/0281a7bf2d7d1d84c7b1bdc78ba3059f.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//847/fa/b9/fab9ada5358d7558a84dd6dfac5b526b.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//847/16/96/169615e6f8cf3604dfe9e0e8eac4ae5a.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//847/eb/83/eb83d3e2c9f77147e47394c81afdf752.jpg" /></p>

harvest report

<p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Sep_20//b1/d1/b1d11d534d92ae59ba64b77ba624cea7.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Sep_20//0a/e4/0ae4b2a04fc0236ee6aca6e7f93454e2.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Sep_20//da/8e/da8e8ef9824bd3cebbb67c3a15c00c90.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Sep_20//b5/69/b56923b09e2d3508a151468eab0cda0d.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Sep_20//25/fd/25fd3ddbaf4300a75c62ce9294cd27bf.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Sep_20//a2/6c/a26cfc8b300ebaea9aaaafcc89b63936.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Sep_20//a2/2f/a22f1d4963811cde2543eea6ac42047a.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Sep_20//19/91/1991da98e4f2087af0749b37983de6a0.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Sep_20//92/5a/925a3c93504a3a770f1e4404c297f73f.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Sep_20//51/4e/514e434b3c3608ddb122648c6e34ea45.jpg" /></p>