interview

<p><em>This interview with Stefano Bellotti took place at the&nbsp;</em><em><glossary title="1101">Vini di Vigniaoli</glossary>&nbsp;fair in<strong>&nbsp;<glossary title="459">Fornovo</glossary></strong></em><em>, Italy in October, 2011.</em></p> <p><strong>Can you tell us&nbsp;Cascina Degli Ulivi&#39;s history?</strong><br /> <br /> In my late teens, I was living in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="488">Genoa</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> The city was never my thing, and I was drawn to a rural life in <glossary title="78">agriculture</glossary> for as long as I can remember. In the city I felt trapped in a prison.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> My family had a small farm they&#39;d purchased after the war, which was more or less abandoned. I decided I wanted to do something with it; I was trying my hardest to be a&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="769">peasant</glossary><span>!</span></span></span> At the beginning, I was cultivating a large amount of <glossary title="78">agricultural</glossary> products: cereals, vegetables and of course the vines.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> We don&#39;t have the best conditions for <glossary title="78">agriculture</glossary> here, and I quickly realized that the only things truly thriving were the vines. My work with wine did not start out of passion: I was simply considering what worked best for my land and if could make a living as a&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="769">peasant</glossary><span>.</span></span></span>&nbsp;<br /> <br /> This was the end of the 1970&#39;s, and the systems&nbsp;Italy began using marked the end of <glossary title="769">peasant</glossary> <glossary title="78">agriculture</glossary> and the beginning of&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span> <glossary title="279">chemical</glossary><span>,</span></span></span>&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="539">industrial agriculture</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> I understood almost right away that this was a trick, a way to tie down the <glossary title="769">peasant</glossary> to industry, to imprison him.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> This was before anyone was talking about <glossary title="746">organic</glossary> <span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="78">agriculture</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> though people were nonetheless moving towards it. When I heard about it, I told myself that this would have to be the <glossary title="78">agriculture</glossary> of the future, that we couldn&#39;t continue in an industrial model.<br /> <br /> <strong>Did you ever try these&nbsp;chemical&nbsp;products on your land?&nbsp;</strong><br /> <br /> There was so little information at the time, and yes the first few years I did use some <glossary title="279">chemical</glossary> <span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="442">fertilizers</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> This was my only offense; I&#39;ve never used <glossary title="526">herbicides</glossary> or anything other than <glossary title="333">copper</glossary> and&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="993">sulfur</glossary><span>.</span></span></span>&nbsp;<br /> <br /> But I quickly realized that my grapes were rotting from the stuff. So I stopped immediately!&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <strong>What about in the&nbsp;cellar?</strong><br /> <br /> I&#39;ve always been weary of modern&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="422">oenology</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> For a long time, hyper-technological wine was in style. Doing the opposite hasn&#39;t always been easy, and it&#39;s not always obvious what to do in that type of situation.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> There was a time when&nbsp;I had to make compromises. For example, to sell wine to Germany in the late 80&#39;s/early 90&#39;s, my clients asked me to the wine to be as &quot;standard&quot; as possible. They wanted it to be&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span> <glossary title="746">organic</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> but to taste conventional. This is how Germany works with their own wines, and it&#39;s also why <glossary title="">organic</glossary> wine there isn&#39;t&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="708">natural</glossary><span>:</span></span></span> it&#39;s an <glossary title="540">industrialized</glossary> product made with <glossary title="746">organic</glossary> grapes.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> So for my German clients I would <glossary title="542">yeast</glossary> my base wines. I was doing what people asked of me so I could make a living, so I could continue making all the other <glossary title="363">cuv&eacute;es</glossary> with <glossary title="538">native yeasts</glossary> and not go out of business.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <strong>Can you describe the climate of&nbsp;organic/&nbsp;agriculture in the early 80&#39;s?</strong><br /> <br /> I was working completely <glossary title="746">organic</glossary> by 1981; back then I wasn&#39;t aware it was an actual thing (it hadn&#39;t reached Italy yet), but I knew I wanted to work this way.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> In the early 80&#39;s, there was already a movement happening, but if you worked&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="746">organically</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> sometimes you felt a little isolated, different, or not productive enough&hellip; This was a time of &quot;production for production&#39;s sake&quot;, so it left us wondering if we really were making the right decision... This was obviously nonsense on our part!<br /> <br /> In 1984, I met a&nbsp;farmer who was working&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="160">biodynamically</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> I instantly saw an <glossary title="78">agriculture</glossary> that was working better. As a kid who grew up in the materialistic 70&#39;s, I didn&#39;t quite trust the whole <glossary title="160">biodynamic</glossary> vision, but I saw the results and knew something about it was working. So I started, and I am very happy. It has opened up the world for me, made it more complex and interesting.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> A lot of people think <glossary title="160">biodynamic</glossary> <glossary title="78">agriculture</glossary> is some sort of religion. It&#39;s not. When you see the results, you can see that it&#39;s an <glossary title="78">agricultural</glossary> model that works. And if one day a better model comes along (or contributes to <glossary title="160">biodynamics</glossary>), I&#39;ll be very happy!<br /> <br /> <strong>Can biodynamic agriculture&nbsp;work anywhere?&nbsp;</strong><br /> <br /> The preparations created by <glossary title="882">Rudolph Steiner</glossary> have incredible power. They are very simple, inexpensive (free in fact!), and they act towards optimizing <glossary title="78">agricultural</glossary> conditions. The proof is all around the world: it works well in Brazil, in Australia, in Egypt&hellip; These are obviously places with completely different <glossary title="78">agricultural</glossary> conditions.<br /> <br /> The point that most people miss? For these preparations to work in the first place, your land needs to be alive. If you put on a <glossary title="826">biodynamic preparation</glossary> on a soil that&#39;s dead, it stays dead. It&#39;s not a miracle! It&#39;s just a model of common sense that takes conscience of the earth and the plant. Whether it&#39;s&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="775">perma-culture</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> synergy or whatever you want to call it, the soil and the plant need to be alive in order to grow and thrive.<br /> <br /> <strong>Most of the growers I&#39;ve interviewed who work&nbsp;biodynamically&nbsp;seem to share your pragmatic approach. In your opinion, why is that many people still have this notion that biodynamic&nbsp;as some sort of goofy, hippie cult shrouded in mysticism?&nbsp;</strong><br /> <br /> That&#39;s a a very complex answer, and we&#39;d need to be here all day for me to give you a complete idea of why people have this impression.<br /> <br /> <glossary title="160">Biodynamic</glossary> <glossary title="78">agriculture</glossary> was born in the 1920&#39;s. It spread quickly through Germanic speaking countries, but was heavily persecuted by the Nazis. This is how it spread internationally: people went elsewhere. Then we had World War 2, then we had the aftermath. The post-war economic model became completely linked to industrialization, to productivity and materialism, and everyone kind of forgot about <glossary title="160">biodynamic</glossary> <span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="78">agriculture</glossary><span>.</span></span></span>&nbsp;<br /> <br /> It was a time where people were being&nbsp;too&nbsp;Cartesian, and <glossary title="160">biodynamic</glossary> <glossary title="78">agriculture</glossary> lent itself to a vision of a world that couldn&#39;t be controlled by science; it was too much of a free spirit to work in a model based on uniformity and productivity.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> So <glossary title="160">biodynamic</glossary> farmers became the minority of the minority. And because these farmers were going out of their way to pursue this style of agriculture, they were billed as esoteric, as sorcerers, as part of a sect.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> We now live in better climate for <glossary title="160">biodynamic</glossary> <span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="78">agriculture</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> but it took a lot of work from guys like Nicolas Joly to speak of a new kind of <glossary title="160">biodynamic</glossary> model, to speak up and let people get a better idea of what we do. So I think we&#39;re growing out of this image. There are still people that aren&#39;t convinced, and that&#39;s fine.<br /> <br /> Some criticize that what we do is too esoteric. Well yes, <glossary title="826">biodynamic preparations</glossary> are esoteric! Almost everything we do is partly esoteric, because science can&#39;t explain everything. If I look at you from across the street and at that exact moment, you happen to turn your head towards me and we make eye contact, that&#39;s not something you can calculate, plan, measure or explain. To understand this is simply to acknowledge being part of a larger whole.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <strong>Can you tell me tell me about the very special kind of&nbsp;Dolcetto&nbsp;you work with?&nbsp;</strong><br /> <br /> In our area we grow a very special variety of&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="398">Dolcetto</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> which is essentially the father of all the <glossary title="398">Dolcetto</glossary> you see today. In the local dialect we call it Nibi&ocirc;. We&#39;re not sure where the etymology of this name comes from; the answer is lost somewhere in the last 1000 years. There are written accounts of it by the Republic of <glossary title="488">Genoa</glossary> before the year 1000!&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Nibi&ocirc;&nbsp;is characterized by very small berries and red stems. It therefore doesn&#39;t produce very high&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1129">yields</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> But it&#39;s an extremely interesting grape, because it&#39;s one of the most <glossary title="1010">tannic</glossary> you&#39;ll find anywhere, yet these <glossary title="1010">tannins</glossary> are light and don&#39;t rip the inside of your cheeks off. It makes a special wine: it&#39;s a bit of a wild child when it&#39;s young, but it can be aged for an extremely long time. After 10 years, the wild child becomes a very elegant gentleman!&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <strong>What&#39;s the work in the vines and in the&nbsp;cellar?&nbsp;</strong><br /> <br /> The main role of anyone who works in <glossary title="78">agriculture</glossary> is to make sure their soil has good microbiological structure. This is the &quot;factory of life&quot;.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Vineyards are a&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span> <glossary title="671">monoculture</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> so what you need to do in that case is bring as much <glossary title="1162">biodiversity</glossary> as you can to your land in order to promote a healthy soil. We have a system where every year certain rows are left untouched all year. We won&#39;t even step on them! This gives the soil the opportunity to regenerate and revitalize itself. And the next year, we leave the one next to it alone. In such every row gets &quot;a year off&quot;. The grasses that grow are all different types, and most are wild. We then use the <glossary title="826">biodynamic preparations</glossary> during spring and summer.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> In the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="254">cellar</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> and I jokingly say this as a provocation, but I do almost nothing. I hate the term &quot;wine maker&quot;. It&#39;s cacophonous! Wine makes itself, it just needs a little help from the human touch. We&#39;re there to guide and accompany the wine as it becomes wine, and that&#39;s it. Humans don&#39;t make wines: microorganisms do. This is a sacred world we don&#39;t understand anything about! Even if you use&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="321">preselected yeasts</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> you can&#39;t intervene further than choosing the direction the wine will take.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <strong>For someone who&#39;s been making wine this way since the early 1980&#39;s, how do you feel in the current context and popularity of&nbsp; natural wine<glossary title="708">?</glossary></strong><br /> <br /> I&#39;ve always said that our force is the truth. When you start drinking&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="708">natural wine</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> or eating natural cheese, natural bread, natural food&hellip; When you start eating REAL food, products from the earth that have a true link to their&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1026">terroir</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> you don&#39;t go back.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Right now we are at an event (<em><glossary title="1101">Vini di Vigniaoli</glossary></em>) where 99.9% of the people here are real. And when you&#39;re constantly surrounded by people who respect nature and <span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="78">agriculture</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> you almost forget that most others don&#39;t. Everyone imagines it&#39;s this huge movement because it&#39;s all you read and hear about when it comes to <glossary title="78">agriculture</glossary> these days. But we represent 0.0001 % of the global production of wine. We represent nothing! In all of Europe, we are maybe 500! And usually these are always small producers.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> There are wine factories in the area that make more wine every year than all the natural winemakers put together! Some produce up to 10 million bottles of wine a year. People don&#39;t necessarily realize this because they are sold in China, India, Brazil and everywhere except Italy. You can be in Brazil right now drinking a local wine I&#39;ve never heard of!<br /> <br /> From a media standpoint you&#39;re hearing a ton about&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="708">natural wine</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> but in reality we are a small group of people. There are benefits to this though; 20 years ago if you worked naturally you were considered the devil, and I even had to hide that I was making <glossary title="160">biodynamic</glossary> wine to certain customers. Things have changed, and this is a good thing.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <strong>Can you tell me about the new &quot;Semplicemente&quot;&nbsp;wines?&nbsp;</strong><br /> <br /> The vocation of my vines has always been, in my mind, to make wines that can be <glossary title="74">aged</glossary> for a long time. Serious wine. The trouble is that if you&#39;re looking to buy wine to&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="254">cellar</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> in<strong>&nbsp;<glossary title="793">Piemonte</glossary></strong>&nbsp;people tend to lean towards&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="141">Barolo</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> or <glossary title="679">Montalcino</glossary> or&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1055">Tuscany</glossary><span>.</span></span></span>&nbsp;<br /> <br /> So I decided, instead of making serious wine, I just wanted to make wine. Wine to drink. I make a red and a white. It worked out really well because instead of making wines that you have to intellectualize, I&#39;ve also produced ones that just win you over, a wine you don&#39;t think about, that you take great pleasure in drinking. You don&#39;t need to worry what about the region or the <glossary title="1071">varietal</glossary> or the nose or whatever. When you do this you are intellectualizing wine, and wine doesn&#39;t give a shit about being intellectual. So it&#39;s &quot;Simply&quot; red or white: you bring them to the table and you don&#39;t think about it, you just drink it. That&#39;s it.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <strong>Anything to add?</strong><br /> <br /> Everyone&#39;s talking about natural <glossary title="78">agriculture</glossary> and <glossary title="708">natural wine</glossary> these days. This is important, but what&#39;s more important is that we all have to realize that <glossary title="78">agriculture</glossary> almost doesn&#39;t exist anymore. Here we are in Italy, the country with the best <glossary title="1026">terroirs</glossary> in the world, and our rural areas are deserted. No one wants to live there anymore. If you have a kid and live in the country, their future is jeopardized!&nbsp;<br /> <br /> There is so much we can produce from this land. We need to all work together, and people need to come back to <span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="769">peasantry</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> If we want to see another evolution in humanity, it has to go through <span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="78">agriculture</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> In the last two generations, we&#39;ve seen an 80% drop in rural population. We&#39;ve also gone from 60% of our land being used for <glossary title="78">agriculture</glossary> to 3%.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Urbanization has caused serious social problems, and we need <glossary title="78">agriculture</glossary> to bring us out of this hole. Especially in a country like Italy. We may be the number one gastronomical country in the world, but gastronomy isn&#39;t about chefs. It&#39;s about <span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="78">agriculture</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> You can&#39;t be making food with pigs raised in China; you need to use the local black hogs that live in the woods.</p>

article

<p><u><strong>Originally published on September 17th, 2018</strong></u></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Jul_16//6a/57/6a57a160649e87a7049a32e04c478201.jpg" /></p> <p><u><strong>From Kevin McKenna:</strong></u><br /> <br /> It&#39;s been a summer of loss in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="793">Piemonte</glossary><span>.</span></span></span>.. Two winegrowers of strong conviction who were not only inspirational in the struggle against standardization, commercialization and <glossary title="78">agricultural</glossary> pollution but also, in two very different areas of the same province, pointed the way for a younger generation of winemakers and wine-enjoyers toward the future, against all odds and the established order.<br /> <br /> The first was Beppe Rinaldi... I&#39;ve not publicly noted his passing but have felt a personal loss and perhaps a bit of regret. Though a founding member of the <glossary title="1102">ViniVeri</glossary> group and a close friend of many wine winemakers we represent, I never really got to know him. For me, he is one of the winemakers of benchmark <glossary title="141">Barolo</glossary> in a style that I&#39;ve came more and more to appreciate. I guess I was a bit too shy and he was more than a bit forbidding. Besides, he was hardly ever at his table; he preferred hanging with his friends than pouring wine for believers and heathens (and watch them spit it out - always one of Baldo Cappellano&#39;s pet annoyances). He was too active, full of life and ready for a conversation, a coffee, a pretty woman. But the thing is, along with Bartolo &amp; Maria Theresa Mascarello and Baldo &amp; Augusto Cappellano, he and his daughter Marta staid a steady course during a turbulent time in the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="578">Langhe</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> Of course, there were others (Roagna and Accomasso are just two&nbsp;that come to mind) but these three&nbsp;were vocally and actively opposing the movement towards disrespectful&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="78">agriculture</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> standardization, unconsidered and unbridled &#39;innovations&#39; in winemaking practices and the mad rush for critics&#39; high scores, pointing to it as a form of group madness. Baldo&#39;s Manifesto for the <glossary title="1102">ViniVeri</glossary> group remains a fundamental&nbsp;<em>cri de coeur</em>&nbsp;for rational, responsible <glossary title="1103">viticulture</glossary> and a guide for what has become known as the &quot;<glossary title="708">natural</glossary>&quot; wine camp. They were the first to publicly break away from the embarrassment and affront to good wine that the ocean of crap that the <glossary title="793">Piemonte</glossary> Pavillon of <glossary title="1105">VinItaly</glossary> had become. All this is to say, I hate to see another of my wine heroes leave this plane. The ones who have done their small part in trying to save the earth and our&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="756">palates</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> Anyone who has tasted even a &quot;little&quot; <glossary title="1109">vintage</glossary> of his <glossary title="141">Barolo</glossary> Brunate or, even rarer,&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1215">Freisa</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> knows this to be true. I really regret not being a bit bolder and at least saying &quot;Thank You, Beppe&quot; - personally, warmly, honestly.<br /> <br /> Now this weekend, a colleague, a mentor, a friend and catalyst, Stefano Bellotti unexpectedly departed. This has been a very hard one to take. He is one of the first Italian winegrowers we asked to represent. I had tasted the wines when they were imported by SummaVitis and on our first tour of Italy as a company, Alessandra Bera invited him to meet and taste with us. Denyse, Joe and Stefano hit it off from the start, and we made a plan to make an impromptu visit Cascina degli Ulivi before flying out of Malpensa the next day. The first time visiting that&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="427">estate</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> nestled in the grooves and the pathways of that remarkable area of&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="793">Piemonte</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> is generally an enchantment. I still remember it as such. That was something like 15 years ago, maybe more. We&#39;ve chased a long winding path together in the wine world since then.<br /> <br /> Stefano - The word fanatic tends to be thrown at the <glossary title="708">natural wine</glossary> guys a lot (and I am sure more than once or twice at Stefano), generally by apologists for standard blah-ness in their lives and wines. It&#39;s like calling a liberal a liberal; like that&#39;s some kind of insult from a morally superior, scientifically-based high-horse. A belief, for example, that apples that have no spots and look exactly like each other but taste like barely anything but cardboard are a better option for the population and what the masses want. I would actually turn it around and call that a &quot;fanaticism&quot; or, worse, material opportunism. That is what Stefano fought all his life in a region of the wine world where through the 70&#39;s and 80&#39;s, the stakes got higher and the &quot;fanaticism&quot; Stefano saw was an opportunistic chase to nullify the tradition and dumb-down the potential of a wine that had been made in his region for at least a few centuries. His belief was an actual call to rationalism and a call to compassion for, not violation of, nature and&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1103">viticulture</glossary><span>.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> Early in his farming life, Stefano turned to <glossary title="746">organic farming</glossary> and shortly thereafter to <glossary title="160">biodynamic</glossary> methods (his positive take on the results of another farmer&#39;s experience) and never turned back on that. During our relationship, as &quot;opposition&quot; winemaking expanded and new <glossary title="427">estates</glossary> were proliferating, various schisms divided the camps and the allegiances. Stefano became the proponent and de facto coordinator for the Italian producers affiliated with Nicolas Joly&#39;s <glossary title="1399">Renaissance des Appellations</glossary> brand of&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="160">biodynamics</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> A position that put him in the crosshairs, from which he deftly, persuasively and with conviction stood his ground in reasoning with other camps. It was that kind of confidence of conviction that made Stefano a source of advice and experience for a younger generation of winemakers finding their way (Arianna, Nadia, Luca and many more).<br /> <br /> I could go on and on about the merits of Bellotti Grande, his belief in and establishment of a <glossary title="815">poly-cultural</glossary> farm, an <glossary title="79">agriturismo</glossary> in the real sense of the word where almost all the food you ate came from the cascina or from a like-minded neighbor&#39;s farm, his willingness to employ and encourage otherwise unlikely employable youth as means of learning responsibility, finding their abilities and/or aspirations, for therapeutic or rehabilitative methods through bread-making,&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1386">hoeing</glossary><span>,</span></span></span>&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="185">bottling</glossary><span>,</span></span></span>&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="834">pruning</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> animal tending... Once you knew Stefano, you never stopped being in awe of his ability, vision, generosity, leadership, casual warmth - so many things that revealed themselves in layer upon layer. There are many times I&#39;ve been put in the position or felt the need to defend him and more often his wines, which could be superficially misconstrued and dismissed. Sometimes, in truth, even to myself. But once in his presence, his conviction was contagious. It was always with a sense of gratitude in the moment to spend time with him in the vineyard, taste in the <glossary title="254">cellar</glossary> or do a comprehensive tasting at the restaurant. I had the great fortune to spend an evening at the cascina last November with a few of his friends, admirers of the wines and the work team at the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="427">estate</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> Stefano presented a vertical of his &quot;Mounb&egrave;&quot;:, pointing out the climatic conditions and other techniques in making the wine, but more often talking about each of the wines&#39; essences, the impressions and sensations of his long experience with the wines. It was evidence of such a clear bond between the wines, Stefano and the life of the whole of the Cascina degli Ulivi. It was pretty magical.<br /> <br /> I am really so grateful to Jonathan Nossiter, firstly, for having the idea to make the film &quot;Natural Resistance&quot; that looked at the life, ideals and and epistemologies of four&nbsp;wine <glossary title="427">estates</glossary> in different parts of Italy in an idiosyncratic and loose-form documentary, letting the winemakers speak for themselves and reveal their personalities candidly and, so obviously, honestly. And secondly, for filming a scene that shows Stefano demonstrating the physical, visible difference in the earth of his manually and <glossary title="746">organically</glossary> farmed soil, with that of a neighbor who has always used&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="526">herbicides</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> <glossary title="1002">systemics</glossary> and a tractor on his vineyard. I have to admit, I had seen Stefano perform this little hat trick a number of times in real life but it is no less impressive and enlightening seeing it again on screen. It is very comforting to know that there is document there that I can actually watch it over and over again.<br /> <br /> It&#39;s evident that Jonathan puts Stefano at the center of the film as the most eloquent, convinced and persuasive of the film&#39;s subjects and, by the end, the film belongs to him. The closing scenes are of Stefano at the farm, talking of how farmers are actually the most potentially dangerous beings on the planet in many ways, a concept close to my heart. There is a a long take of Stefano full close camera bathed in magic hour light. His buddha-like gaze, both offering and seeking compassion is, to me, the essence of who he was and is and will always be. There are not enough permutations of &quot;Thank You, Stefano&quot; in any language to convey the deep sense of my gratitude - personally, warmly, honestly.</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Jul_16//3e/99/3e990bd004bdc4a5ce3fb2788457743b.jpg" /></p> <p><u><strong>From Jules Dressner:</strong></u><br /> <br /> If weren&#39;t for Stefano Bellotti, I&#39;m not sure I&#39;d be doing this wine thing. In hindsight, my teenage stint working at Cascina Degli Ulivi humbled, inspired and changed me. It was the catalyst for continuing in the footsteps of Kevin and my parents. This was from March to July 2006, and I didn&#39;t know it at the time. Months prior, I was a lost soul attending university in Montreal, not sure I wanted to stay in college. Needing a change of scenery, I&#39;d dreamt up a plan to go plant apple trees in Vancouver. But this was complicated because of my study visa, so my father proposed I go work at a winery in Europe.<br /> <br /> I&#39;m not sure how Casina Degli Ulivi was picked, but I have a hunch. I&#39;d never been to Italy, so that was surely a reason. And Joe was well aware of the ever-rotating cast of misfits, hippies and hard working immigrants working at Stefano&#39;s farm. After a quick phone conversation with Stefano in French, it was settled. I vividly remember the ride to the airport, nervous but excited for a new adventure: a time to discover someplace new, to detach from the reality I&#39;d grown tired of in Montreal. There was already some pre-loaded symbolism in the trip, as I was to turn 20 there.<br /> <br /> I&#39;d never met Stefano. While he was extremely friendly and welcoming upon my arrival, it was instantly clear he was THE BOSS. Everyone treated him with utmost respect and adulation, but not in a phony hierarchical way. I could tell everyone really respected him and appreciated his presence. At least on the farm, he felt larger than life, almost holy. While he was always reserved at large gatherings such as the <glossary title="1399">Renaissance des Appellations</glossary> association he helmed with Nicolas Joly, at Ulivi he emitted a palpable confidence, an aura of know-how and tranquility that felt comforting and inspiring. Though he could initially come off as intimidating, once his stern face lit into a smile, you were at ease.<br /> <br /> Stefano was also the life-force of the farm. If you&#39;ve visited, you know that the Cascina has a powerful energy that cannot be described in words. It feels alive as a unified whole, but you can feel that whole is composed of a million other bits of life: people, animals, bugs, grass, vines, vegetables, something you can&#39;t quite put your finger on&hellip; I know that <glossary title="160">biodynamics</glossary> sometime get a bad rep, but for me the Ulivi farm and its nearby vines have a spirituality to them, a resonating feeling of being one with something much larger and more important. I truly believe that Stefano brought this energy to his land. It was beyond <glossary title="160">biodynamic</glossary> <span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1103">viticulture</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> and I&#39;ll never be able to fully explain it. But here at two choice quotes from our interview in 2011 that illustrate my point:<br /> <br /> <em>&quot;For these preparations to work in the first place, your land needs to be alive. If you put on a </em><glossary title="160"><em>biodynamic</em></glossary><em> preparation on a soil that&#39;s dead, it stays dead. It&#39;s not a miracle! It&#39;s just a model of common sense that takes conscience of the earth and the plant. Whether it&#39;s </em><glossary title="775"><em>permaculture</em></glossary><em>, synergy or whatever you want to call it, the soil and the plant need to be alive in order to grow and thrive.&quot;</em><br /> <br /> <em>&quot;Some criticize that what we do is too esoteric. Well yes, </em><glossary title="826"><em>biodynamic preparations</em></glossary><em> are esoteric! Almost everything we do is partly esoteric, because science can&#39;t explain everything. If I look at you from across the street and at that exact moment, you happen to turn your head towards me and we make eye contact, that&#39;s not something you can calculate, plan, measure or explain. To understand this is simply to acknowledge being part of a larger whole.&quot;</em></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Jul_16//35/f0/35f0e51d955bea8065935a465321bb12.jpg" /></p> <p>Stefano&#39;s philosophy and his willingness to speak so openly about his views (always in French!) were a real eye opener for me. Sure, I was aware that my parents worked with <glossary title="746">organic</glossary> wineries,&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="664">minimal intervention</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> blah blah blah&hellip; While these have certainly become buzz words for a younger audience over the past decade, none of this particularly resonated with me at the time. Frankly, I don&#39;t know if I would have bought it if I hadn&#39;t seen and felt it first hand. Stefano made me a believer. And while I&#39;m sure they exist, I don&#39;t know of another <glossary title="815">poly-cultural</glossary> farm that reaches the the same level of metaphysical energy.<br /> <br /> On another level, it was also my first experience &quot;dealing&quot; with nature. Working with the land, feeling and tending to its needs, the rhythm of the season. Stefano knew where we had to be and when, and this resonated with me. He of course had decades of experience, but it was still impressive to observe a man so connected and in sync with his land. I think that too few of us truly grasp the minutiae of&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="78">agriculture</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> From the safety and comfort of our cities, it&#39;s easy to request <glossary title="746">organic</glossary> ingredients, farm to table restaurants,&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="708">natural wines</glossary><span>:</span></span></span> for many these are luxuries void of context, status symbols of consumption. Stefano&#39;s work became a standard bearer for me in later years when visiting&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="427">estates</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> asking questions about how they work the land. If you know me, you know that I&#39;m more interested in these details than in the wines themselves.</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Jul_16//3a/41/3a412924d7a480cbe3af88d35fbad31e.jpg" /></p> <p>Another thing I learned from Stefano was good old-fashioned hard work. Personally, I&#39;ve always preferred the DIY, get your hands dirty, learning in the field approach. In my youth I applied this to skateboarding and DJing, spending hours practicing the same trick or technique over and over until I got it right. What I liked (and still like) about those hobbies was that there are no rules, no organized structure for how to get from A to B; you just somehow figure it out, go with the flow. Well not so on the farm! Our days started at the crack of dawn and ended around 6pm. There was always something to do. Some things I was good at. Others I failed miserably, most notably trying to feed baby cows, an altogether terrifying experience. Yet within all that structure, I WAS doing it myself, getting my hands dirty, learning on the field. This was my first rewarding work experience: the simple satisfaction from completing a day&#39;s tasks.<br /> <br /> On my 20th&#39;s birthday, Stefano cooked me pizzas. It was a very simple meal with all the ingredients coming from the farm. I can&#39;t remember what what we talked about but we sat just the two of us, all smiles and laughter. Recollecting this moment, I know Stefano did not feel an obligation to spend time with me that night. He genuinely wanted to. I think he had an incredible gift of connecting with people, of making them feel at ease, of listening and acting appropriately. Just like with his land.<br /> <br /> That morning of my birthday, I woke up and listened to&nbsp;<em>Life&#39;s a Bitch</em>&nbsp;by Nas and AZ. The song is a bittersweet ode to the realities of overcoming life&#39;s hardships, knowing that in the end, we&#39;re all &quot;going to go&quot;. At the time I listened to it because of the opening lines of Nas&#39; verse:<br /> <br /> <em>&quot;I woke up early on my born day; I&#39;m 20, it&#39;s a blessin&#39;<br /> The essence of of adolescence leaves my body, now I&#39;m fresh and<br /> My physical frame is celebrated because I made it<br /> One quarter through life, some godly-like thing created&quot;</em><br /> <br /> In the 12.5 years since, I think of Stefano whenever the song plays or pops into my mind. Up until today, it was about the celebration of life, counting you blessings and making the best of it. Today, the darker message resonates: life is unfair and then you die, you never know when you&#39;re gonna go. A a blunt truism. Yet the actual message of the song isn&#39;t negative: it&#39;s about accepting life&#39;s hardships and not giving in to them. Stefano was perhaps the most vocal opponent to&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="539">industrial</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> <glossary title="279">chemical</glossary> <glossary title="78">agriculture</glossary> in our circle. Against the odds, he showed us a way to fight back, to prove others wrong. He was a true visionary, a pioneer in his quest for respecting nature.</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Jul_16//42/e5/42e574173f678ccf0d255ba7baf33ab2.jpg" /></p> <p>A memory that will forever be with me was during a 15 minute morning break working on the magnificent Montemarino vineyard. I was on the top of the hill, eating an apple and laying on the grass. Staring at the bright blue sky, noticing the patchy clouds, I felt everything was going to be all right. I know that reads as mundane, trite, clich&eacute;d. But if you&#39;ve ever had a moment where every worry in the world escapes you, where anything feels possible, then you can relate. Despite a world intent on making me feel the contrary, I&#39;ve had that feeling before this particular recollection and have had it since. But once again, this memory is the standard bearer.<br /> <br /> I&#39;ve made a point of laying in that same exact patch of grass every time I&#39;ve visited since, and have always felt the exact same way. By accommodating me, by opening my eyes to the mysteries and grandeur of nature, Stefano made that possible. And for that I will always be grateful.</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Jul_16//c6/9c/c69cc7bc2955edf8dc33ebe1ee1fbbc6.jpg" /></p>

producers visit

<p><strong><em>This visit to Cascinia degli Ulivi took place in May, 2014.</em></strong></p> <p><strong><em>Words by Jules Dressner, photos by Josefa Concannon, Jill Berheimer and David Norris.</em></strong></p> <p>Cascina Degli Ulivi will always hold a special place in my heart. You see, when I was 19 years old, I felt a need to distance myself from my social scene (Montreal), and after an initial plan to &quot;move to Vancouver&quot;, Joe proposed I go work in vineyards somewhere. I&#39;d never been to Italy, and Joe, knowing that Stefano Bellotti runs a <glossary title="815">poly-cultural</glossary> farm and there would be plenty for me to do there, proposed Ulivi. After a quick chat with Stefano, it was agreed I would get room and&nbsp;board at the Cascina in exchange for manual labor. I could (and probably should) write an entire entry on the five&nbsp;months I lived and worked there, but this is neither the time nor place. Suffice to say, my time there was&nbsp;the catalyst in finding a personal connection with the traditions of <glossary title="769">peasantry</glossary> and wine. Also, working in the fields gave me the only legit tan I&#39;ve ever had in my life. But I digress...<br /> <br /> After landing in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="660">Milan</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> we drove straight to the town of&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="726">Novi Ligure</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> where Ulivi is located.&nbsp;</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_28//16/a9/16a9cc3e90b9bcf57b9b9507a9bfbdab.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_28//8c/0f/8c0fb9a55e1412bd0ee3c97622af121e.jpg" /></p> <p>Though <glossary title="726">Novi Ligure</glossary> is actually a modestly sized town (28,500 inhabitants) with a bustling urban core, the Ulivi farm is about ten minutes out of the city, completely surrounded by woods and only accessible via a small road. Chickens, ducks and geese are just hanging around everywhere.</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_28//4f/e7/4fe7841ed4665c01fb2e2dd2a79cdd9d.jpg" /></p> <p>Love was definitely in the air.</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_28//ae/94/ae945297550804b77c87e1e51ae4ed1a.jpg" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_28//eb/77/eb779f4b2cc78739437f40752df1702f.jpg" /></p> <p>Because of all the animal fornication going on around us, we assumed it was mating season. Later, Stefano confirmed we were wrong:&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <em>&quot;It&#39;s like this all the time. They never stop.&quot;&nbsp;</em><br /> <br /> As I mentioned earlier, the farm is completely self-sufficient. For example: 23 cows!</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_28//05/65/05653afaf15f0b177dd421e18a6dcbe2.jpg" /></p> <p>These are almost exclusively used for dairy: fresh milk, delicious homemade cheeses, and yogurts/panna cotta,etc... On average, only two&nbsp;male cows are slaughtered a year for meat, which is served exclusively at the restaurant/<glossary term="Agriturismo" title="79">agriturismo</glossary> within the farm grounds. That&#39;s right people: two cows last an entire year!<br /> <br /> A lot of fresh fruits and vegetables are also planted throughout.</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_28//95/b5/95b52ed177d6bbd368cdcbcb6823d0c0.jpg" /></p> <p>Look, a goat family!</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_28//83/23/832374e84ba6ce0dbf6d56c9c9d047da.jpg" /></p> <p>As you can see, there are all types of animals at Cascina degli Ulivi! But Stefano&#39;s favorite, of course, is his Maremma sheepdog Guantanamobai.</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_28//44/19/4419bbeaefd64ac0c4bbeee01f655e51.jpg" /></p> <p>You may recognize this big guy from the &quot;Filagnotti&quot; labels:</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_28//49/27/49274b229c88991016852c21b9956946.jpg" /></p> <p>Well, that&#39;s not actually the same dog; Stefano has loved this breed for as long as he can remember, and owned many since his early 20&#39;s.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> But beyond farming, restaurants and animals, the real bread and butter of Cascina Degli Ulivi is, you guessed it, WINE!<br /> <br /> We started our tour by checking out Stefano&#39;s brand new experimental vineyard.</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_28//01/27/01276299e28a70fbe6c29b03ec2025df.jpg" /></p> <p>Planted last June, these three&nbsp;<glossary title="523">hectares</glossary> are all in <glossary title="464">franc de pied</glossary> aka <glossary term="Grafting" title="500">ungrafted</glossary> roots. Stefano explained that these four varieties were historically considered &quot;shit&quot;, but that have also been historically proven to resist <glossary term="Mildew" title="1137">mildew</glossary> and <glossary title="737">odium</glossary> over the long term.</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_28//90/c0/90c0a4f242b7ad915fee74a3d60974f0.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_28//6d/8f/6d8fbea3650d4e44f39bdd48285426cb.jpg" /><br /> <br /> Stefano&#39;s discovery of these &quot;shit&quot; varieties stems from research dating back to 1910. A <glossary title="773">p&eacute;pini&egrave;riste</glossary> (whose job involves growing young vines in a nursery for future use) in <glossary title="992">S&uuml;dtirol</glossary> based his life work on this, and was able to find 25 <glossary term="Hybrid" title="532">hybrid grapes</glossary> that resist the two of the most damaging <glossary title="474">fungal</glossary> illnesses in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1103">viticulture</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> Stefano picked the ones that made the most sense for his soils and&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="656">micro-climates</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> but also the flavors he liked.<br /> <br /> <em>&quot;I didn&#39;t want anything </em><glossary term="Aromatic" title="120"><em>aromatic</em></glossary><em>.&quot;</em><br /> <br /> Interestingly the soils here are not <glossary title="909">sand</glossary> (where the <glossary title="788">phylloxera</glossary> bug cannot survive) but heavy&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="301">clay</glossary><span>.</span></span></span></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_28//d5/9f/d59fd2f2781657571f61d0e83af1c236.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_28//b3/ef/b3efe9f299e9b32a4715ccd13eeb19bd.jpg" /><br /> &nbsp;</p> <p><em>&quot;They are already very alive.&quot;</em><br /> <br /> Next, we headed over to the beautiful Filagnotti vineyard, which produces the aforementioned <glossary term="Cuvée" title="363">cuv&eacute;e</glossary> of the same name.</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_28//85/ad/85ad07875b2de49943c90df6a0df7aa3.jpg" /></p> <p>The village you can spot in the background is&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1013">Tassarolo</glossary><span>.</span></span></span></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_28//e6/37/e637392156275ca70dc0b59ed4082c9b.jpg" /></p> <p>In this vineyard, <glossary title="341">Cortese</glossary> is planted on very acidic red <glossary title="301">clay</glossary> that is rich in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="547">iron</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> Stefano has been working this vineyard since 1984, which coincides with his first year practicing&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="160">biodynamics</glossary><span>.</span></span></span>&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Looking in the distance, then back at the <glossary title="206">budding</glossary> vines, Stefano proclaimed:&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <em>&quot;This is my favorite time of the year. I love looking at individual </em><glossary title="206"><em>buds</em></glossary><em> and thinking: This will soon be a glass of wine!&quot;&nbsp;</em></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_28//50/b8/50b82c69ed230e8525919b453fd3404f.jpg" /></p> <p>As with most of&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="793">Piemonte</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> a lot of Stefano&#39;s vines have been dying from&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="452">Flavescence Dor&eacute;e</glossary><span>.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <em>&quot;The best way to fight this is </em><glossary title="464"><em>franc de pied</em></glossary><em>, but this directly confronts you with the problem of </em><glossary title="788"><em>phylloxera</em></glossary><em>. Still, I believe fighting a bug is easier than fighting a disease.&quot;</em><br /> <br /> He continued:<br /> <br /> <em>&quot;The problem is that all funded research is geared towards &quot;fixing&quot; these problems through chemical treatments. Any alternative means always falls on our backs, through our own independent experiments. In the end, their is not one magic solution. It will be a combination of many factors that will lead us to an answer.&quot;</em><br /> <br /> Speaking of individual experimentation, Stefano has planted an entire portion of Filagnotti in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Franc de Pied" title="464">franc de pied</glossary><span>.</span></span></span></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_28//a9/9e/a99e3b5d31bae6a8010d96c739014f9f.jpg" /></p> <p>He feels that these much younger vines already have much more vigor and life than their <glossary title="500">grafted</glossary> siblings.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Last but not least, we visited Cascina degli Ulivi&#39;s most prized vineyard, Montemarino.</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_28//14/cc/14cc654147fc10d2f1432ee722f4e4a4.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_28//64/1f/641f78cebe8d62132555c76c62e278db.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_28//07/14/071429fd8e62a992416787e3a64494a9.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_28//2e/57/2e57184eb76d46fe3653401e10230f0e.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_28//44/e7/44e7d482ecf2ad4fef6b9ef3e3fa684b.jpg" /></p> <p>Holy shit that&#39;s beautiful!&nbsp;<br /> <br /> The soils here are <glossary title="301">clay</glossary> and&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span> <glossary title="596">limestone</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> Standing in Montemarino, the difference in <glossary title="656">micro-climate</glossary> between Filagnotti was clear: a constant wind sweeping through the vineyards (as opposed to Filagnotti&#39;s much dryer nature) creates a cooler, more elegant wine.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Though the vast majority of Montemarino is planted in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span> <glossary title="341">Cortese</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> the oldest vines in the <glossary title="427">estate</glossary> are planted here (94 years old, planted in 1920), and consist of Nibi&ocirc;, the local name for the region&#39;s <glossary term="Indigenous" title="1139">indigenous</glossary> strand of&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="398">Dolcetto</glossary><span>.</span></span></span>&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Stefano acquired the vast majority of this&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="594">lieu-dit</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> which consists of six&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="523">hectares</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> in 2000. To do so, he had to purchase individual <glossary title="1133">plots</glossary> from 39 different owners!!! Montemarino is <glossary title="430">exposed</glossary> full South, at 310 meters of&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="419">elevation</glossary><span>.</span></span></span>&nbsp;<br /> <br /> After walking through the vines, it was time for Stefano&#39;s self-admitted &quot;schtick I do every time&quot;:&nbsp;<strong>The Shovel Experiment&trade;</strong></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_28//10/59/105953b7d34a76610821ee32dbb32cbe.jpg" /></p> <p><em>&quot;Of all my vineyards, Montemarino is the only one were I have a neighbor. And of course, he works more chemically than anyone I know!&quot;&nbsp;</em><br /> <br /> <strong>The Shovel Experiment&trade;</strong>&nbsp;consists of shoveling a hunk of land from Montemarino as well as his neighbor&#39;s to compare and contrast the amount of life in both. Here&#39;s a side by side pick to give you an idea of what a vineyard heavily treated with <glossary title="526">herbicide</glossary> where one doesn&#39;t work the soils looks like versus that of a <glossary title="160">biodynamic</glossary> pioneer.&nbsp;</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_28//14/36/143684e91e3242b73fb08b0cea10612c.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_28//46/75/467570d62035b67f208bb6eadc15addd.jpg" /></p> <p>Keep in mind those are less than 50 meters apart!<br /> <br /> At the top of Montemarino, Stefano&#39;s <glossary title="1104">vinification</glossary> <glossary title="254">cellar</glossary> hosts all his future releases. He works almost exclusively with large <glossary title="1126">wood</glossary> vessels.</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_28//b1/1f/b11f5209eaf0d421bdaa9bd2bcff4c27.jpg" /><br /> &nbsp;</p> <p><em>&quot;I like using </em><glossary title="1126"><em>wood</em></glossary><em> because it keeps the wine alive. This is because it is constantly dancing with oxygen. But it not&#39;s </em><glossary title="754"><em>oxygenation</em></glossary><em> I look for; it&#39;s so that the wine is in constant contact with something alive&nbsp;(air).&quot;</em><br /> <br /> We tasted through a range of 2013 wines, which were a solid <glossary title="1109">vintage</glossary> for Ulivi. By the time we were done tasting through the current releases, jet lag had started seriously kicking in so we sat down for an early dinner at the <glossary title="79">agriturismo</glossary> which naturally consisted of all the meats, vegetables, dairy and fruit of the farm.<br /> <br /> It was good to know that eight&nbsp;years after my time there, Cascina degli Ulivi is still as magical as ever.</p>

harvest report

<p><strong>by Sonia Torreta on September 20th, 2011:</strong></p> <p>Here we are, more than half way through the picking. This year it started unexpectedly early on August 31th, whereas last year and in 2009 we started on Sept 20th, so on average we were 15 days earlier.<br /> <br /> The season was quite weird in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="793">Piemonte</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> Wet winter, which is good, cool wet spring, cool early summer and just when we wanted some rain and cool, we had a hot and dry August, thus making the early ripening grapes like <glossary title="398">Dolcetto</glossary> become almost &quot;<glossary term="Passito" title="765">passite</glossary>&quot; in their <glossary term="Concentration" title="324">concentration</glossary> in some vineyards.<br /> <br /> The <glossary title="341">Cortese</glossary> is coming along very well, with healthy, just ripe grapes and the <glossary title="138">Barbera</glossary> quite high in <glossary title="71">acidity</glossary> and sugars. This year&#39;s wines will come along nicely as deep-colored, not too alcoholic and with powerful <glossary title="723">noses</glossary> as the cool weather worked in favour of a good <glossary term="Concentration" title="324">concentration</glossary> of aromas and fruit.<br /> <br /> All the <glossary title="398">D</glossary><glossary title="398">olcettos</glossary> are now <glossary title="405">dry</glossary> as the <glossary title="441">fermentations</glossary> are going very well; nice, regular curves, manageable temperatures... I am sleeping very well at night these days.<br /> <br /> Today we started picking the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="138">Barbera</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> This year we are having thick skins on this grape too, meaning again good <glossary term="Concentration" title="324">concentration</glossary> in color and <span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="784">poliphenols</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> which will produce rich and <glossary term="Aromatic" title="120">aromatic</glossary> wines.<br /> <br /> I can&#39;t wait to taste the finished wines, really!</p>

harvest report

<p><u><strong>Sonia Torretta,&nbsp;Novi Ligure, October 13th 2010:</strong></u></p> <p>This year the <glossary title="521">harvest</glossary> lasted from the 13th of September until the 2nd of October. We got the good weather we wanted because it only rained two days and we were able to focus our time. The work in the <glossary title="254">cellar</glossary> is going nicely. The <glossary title="441">fermentations</glossary> started quickly. The season was decidedly cooler than last year; the <glossary title="639">maturation</glossary> of the grapes was gradual and complete. These cool weather nights during the <glossary title="639">maturation</glossary> are now giving the <glossary title="441">fermentations</glossary> very perfumed aromas and for this we are truly happy.</p> <p>Unfortunately here in <glossary title="793">Piemonte</glossary> the <glossary title="452">Golden Flavescence</glossary> (N.T.: a phytoplasmic disease of plants carried by an insect) has struck widely, especially the red grapes and we have a lot of damage on the <glossary title="398">Dolcetto</glossary> with one vineyard to pull out and replant.<br /> <br /> Also the presence of <glossary title="737">odium</glossary> was pretty strong this year, because of alternating humidity and dry periods and a mostly rainy spring. The&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1129">yields</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> therefore, are not overly big, but what remains is a good size crop. The white grapes of <glossary title="341">Cortese</glossary> in particular are marvelous.</p> <p>This year we also had two classes of 3A Elementary kids come to pick some grapes and to learn that to have good fruit one needs to work and strive hard. I strived to make them not run with scissors in their hand until I was hoarse, but in the end it was great fun for all.</p>