Indigenous Calabrian Wines from L'Acino.

Indigenous Calabrian Whites and Reds from L'Acino

L'Acino Profile

Quick Facts

Name of Estate	L'Acino
Region	Calabria
Country	Italy
Proprietor	Dino Briglio
Size	15 hectares
Farming	Organic (Certified)
Soils	Red clay, limestone, schist, sand
Grapes grown	Magliocco, Mantonico, Guarnaccia Nera, Guarnaccia Bianca, Malvasia, Pecorello, Greco Bianco
Fun facts	Before starting his winery, Dino Briglio was a historian.

Before starting his winery, Dino Briglio was a historian.

Name of Estate	L'Acino
Region	Calabria
Country	Italy
Proprietor	Dino Briglio
Size	15 hectares
Farming	Organic (Certified)
Soils	Red clay, limestone, schist, sand
Grapes grown	Magliocco, Mantonico, Guarnaccia Nera, Guarnaccia Bianca, Malvasia, Pecorello, Greco Bianco
Fun facts	Before starting his winery, Dino Briglio was a historian.

Get to know
L'Acino

producer profile 30.05.2019

L'Acino Producer Profile

Dino Briglio founded L'Acino in 2006 with two childhood friends who have since amicably moved on from the project. As natives of the mountain town of <glossary title="907">San Marco Argentano</glossary>, the winery is a communal effort to express the oft-forgotten possibilities of <glossary title="221">Calabrian</glossary> <glossary title="1026">terroir</glossary>. When the project began, everyone was working full-time in unrelated fields: Antonello was a film director, Dino a historian and Emilio a lawyer. Though they had no <glossary title="1103">viticultural</glossary> or winemaking experience, their love of wine was enough to start an <glossary title="427">estate</glossary>. And the trio's taste for <glossary title="708">vini naturali</glossary> meant focusing their attention on <glossary title="746">organic</glossary> <glossary title="1103">viticulture</glossary> and <glossary title="664">minimal intervention</glossary> winemaking. After a year of searching far and wide for a small vineyard, Dino struck gold with a <glossary title="523">hectare</glossary> of the <glossary title="1139">indigenous</glossary> white grape <glossary title="627">Mantonico</glossary>. Purchased from an old farmer who deemed the land too hard to work, this picturesque vineyard is located right on the border of the Pollino park, the largest natural park in Italy. Soon thereafter, the guys were able to purchase a nearby 1.5 <glossary title="523">hectare</glossary> <glossary title="760">parcel</glossary> of the local red grape <glossary title="616">Magliocco</glossary>. While <glossary title="332">converting</glossary> both parcels to  <glossary title="746">organics</glossary>, they produced their first wines in the 2007, a white called "Mantonicoz" and a red named "Tocco Magliocco". At 650 meters <glossary title="419">elevation</glossary> and <glossary title="430">exposed</glossary> North, both these sites are particularly cool, providing a lighter, more elegant style than most would expect of <glossary title="221">Calabrian</glossary> wine.  The next step was seeing something through from the beginning, and so a new search began for a suitable <glossary title="1026">terroir</glossary> that had never been planted in vines. This again took about a year, but resulted in the discovery of a stunning, <glossary title="909">sandy</glossary> <glossary title="345">coteau</glossary> that the guys have planted in <glossary title="616">Magliocco</glossary> and <glossary title="627">Mantonico</glossary> from <glossary title="941">massale</glossary>, along with <glossary title="508">Guarnaccia Nera</glossary> and <glossary title="509">Bianca</glossary>, <glossary title="770">Pecorello</glossary> and <glossary title="506">Greco</glossary>, much of it in <glossary title="464">franc de pied</glossary>. Planted in 2007, these young vines produce the <glossary title="427">estate</glossary>'s two entry level wines, both called "Chora" and both extremely fun, lively and surprisingly light gulpers.  Dino, now fully at the helm of l'Acino since 2016, works ten <glossary title="523">hectares</glossary> of vines and rents five (mostly of older vines). All the vines are between 400 and 650 meters <glossary title="419">elevation</glossary>. Though he's never studied <glossary title="1103">viticulture</glossary> or <glossary title="422">enology</glossary>, he is the son and grandson of farmers and the work has proved to be instinctive. And while production did not stray from the <glossary title="">estate</glossary>'s historic four wines for many years, he has began experimenting and releasing new <glossary title="363">cuvées</glossary> in 2016 with "Giramondo", a <glossary title="610">macerated</glossary> <glossary title="623">Malvasia</glossary>. New wines have followed. The wines <glossary title="441">ferment</glossary> off their <glossary title="538">native yeasts</glossary>, mostly in <glossary title="986">stainless steel</glossary> <glossary title="1140">vats</glossary>, though a small amount of old French <glossary title="731">oak</glossary> is used for the older's vines' best grapes. <glossary title="1104">Vinifications</glossary> take place without addition or retractions, save a small amount of <glossary title="993">sulfur</glossary> at <glossary title="185">bottling</glossary>. The whites are wildly original and compelling, while the reds are a pure, quaffable joy.

producer visit 02.12.2020

A Video Tour of L'Acino's Vineyards

producer visit 05.08.2019

This visit to L'Acino took place in November, 2013

This visit to L'Acino took place in November, 2013. Words by Jules Dressner, photos by Eben Lillie. We first tasted L'Acino on a late night at <a href="http://www.tabarro.net/">Tabarro</a>, the bar in <glossary term="Parma" title="762">Parma</glossary> I'm always ranting and raving about. After requesting a "<glossary term="Beaujolais" title="151">Beaujolais</glossary> style" red, the owner Diego laughed and quickly brought out a bottle of <glossary title="221">Calabrian</glossary> wine called "Chora Rosso". Everyone LOVED IT, and was very excited since it turned out the guys were participating in <a href="http://www.vinidivignaioli.com/">Vini di Vignaioli</a> and that meant tasting the entire lineup the following day. The other three wines (two whites and two reds) were so good that Kevin instantly decided to modify our trip to visit the <glossary title="427">estate</glossary>. Two days later, we were smack-dab in the middle of <glossary term="San Marco Argentano" title="907">San Marco Argentano</glossary> waiting for head <glossary title="1089">vignaiolo</glossary> Antonello Canonico to show us some vineyards (ed note: Antonello is no longer part of the project, which is currently headed by Dino Briglio). <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_05//75/73/757304832225554b60a7fb70c2a5a442.jpg" /> <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_05//62/15/6215af74df0f34dc2c709b50c574ca2b.jpg" /> Though I much prefer driving stick-shift, the old town's extremely narrow, curvy and seemingly uphill-only roads made me grateful that we had an automatic for once. While we were waiting for Antonello, Eben and I made sure to buy some RumJungle jeans for all our cool American friends.  <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_05//67/3b/673b29e75f208296acb399b1f0a6490e.jpg" /> After purchasing some ultra-stylish jeans, Antonello scooped us up and we drove over the five <glossary title="523">hectare</glossary> site that produces both "Chora Bianco" and "Chora Rosso" <glossary title="363">cuvées</glossary>.  <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_05//a6/fe/a6fe7a30a62cb9439bb1da4922b56a8c.jpg" /> <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_05//1c/92/1c925a0c36d316dedb7ea0b79bee2c97.jpg" /> <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_05//79/8b/798be97ee289b6e9b16d2fbea1a2a346.jpg" /> <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_05//80/2b/802bcf1b30ab8b819674e4efe44a3aff.jpg" /> The vines here are very young, and were planted by the L'Acino team six years ago. As you can see, the soils had been heavily <glossary title="810">plowed</glossary>; the guys are doing this every year following <glossary title="521">harvest</glossary>, adding legumes, straw and many other good <glossary title="160">biodynamic</glossary> things to promote mineral richness and depth to the soils. Antonello explained that there are five distinct soil compositions within the vineyard, which are essentially varying amounts of <glossary title="909">sands</glossary>. In the sandiest parts of this double-sided hill, the guys have planted in <glossary title="464">franc de pied</glossary>. The <glossary title="909">sands</glossary> go for 1.5 meters until they hit a solid, very hard sheet of rock. <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_05//6a/04/6a04a09a63496e59afabdbb00acce09c.jpg" /> That's Antonello in the picture above. His partner Dino, who was also with us, pointed out that the layer of rock in the <glossary title="991">subsoils</glossary> will always keep <glossary title="1129">yields</glossary> very low. Furthermore:  "Because we are working <glossary title="746">organically</glossary> from the start, the vines are taking a long time to find themselves in the soil." As far as the grapes planted, the vineyard features the <glossary title="1139">indigenous</glossary> <glossary title="616">Magliocco</glossary> (red) and <glossary title="627">Mantonico</glossary> (white), as well as some <glossary title="508">Grenache Noir</glossary> and <glossary title="509">Grenache Blanc</glossary>. Everything is planted in <glossary title="941">selection massale</glossary>.  By the time we were ready to see another piece of land, the sun was almost gone.  <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_05//af/33/af332d361f25b1ea1bbc38e63ac17edd.jpg" /> Even though it quickly became too dark to take any good pictures, the second site Antonello, Dino and Emilio brought us to was a recently acquired <glossary title="1133">plot</glossary> of land that they will start planting in 2014. The <glossary title="547">iron</glossary> infused <glossary title="909">sand</glossary> and <glossary title="301">clay</glossary> had a red intensity that rivaled Mas des Chimères'.  <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_05//8b/b5/8bb51291e8025bb5e2aa9721b5818919.jpg" /> <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_05//f4/7e/f47e3e5cd9d5354cb92ab7813e84d476.jpg" /> The L'Acino team is extremely excited about planting here, because this is a completely different <glossary title="1026">terroir</glossary> than their other vineyards.  We then drove to the <glossary title="254">cellar</glossary> to taste the 2013's as well as some <glossary title="185">bottled</glossary> stuff. The first thing I spotted was this <a href="https://youtu.be/9-fK7zx2v7E">TOTALLY BODACIOUS</a> poster.  <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_05//56/20/562006c440333e15475d3b76ac91a9a5.jpg" /> Here is the cellar.  <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_05//b4/32/b432866ebe0cb314a89139377263478b.jpg" /> <glossary title="986">Stainless steel</glossary> <glossary title="1140">tanks</glossary> take up the majority of the space, but there are some old <glossary title="469">French oak</glossary> <glossary title="142">barrels</glossary> hiding in the back.  <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_05//91/0b/910b80551b047bbd4b8851b26c31ea76.jpg" /> These are the labels for the whites:  <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_05//3a/67/3a67b778459063d1f7cdebe303023b20.jpg" /> Dinner was upon on, and the guys pulled out all the stops: the antipasti was about two meals worth of food on its own, the pasta was banging and the baby lamb slaughtered the night before did not die in vain. More importantly, it was a chance to get to know Antonello, Dino and Emilio, all of whom are super nice guys. Chatting them up, it was obvious how enthusiastic and dedicated they are to the L'Acino project, and I can only imagine great things in the future for them. The following morning, we set out for the 30 minute drive into the mountains to visit the <glossary title="627">Mantonico</glossary> vineyard which produces the "Mantonicoz" <glossary title="185">bottling</glossary>. <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_05//ec/44/ec4443b2d4e48550a66da96f3423154f.jpg" /> The vineyard is about one <glossary title="523">hectare</glossary> and is right on the border of the  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollino_National_Park">Pollino National Park</a>, which you can see in the background the photo above.  <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_05//ec/08/ec08cf27ff3655e55daf5054371391ee.jpg" /> <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_05//dc/f3/dcf321f0fa70c7a4557665ccc183611d.jpg" /> <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_05//5a/c6/5ac6f16ec223e6cbc2f73ea6297d5bbf.jpg" /> Antonello explained that these vines are very hard to work. The soils feature a little bit of <glossary title="301">clay</glossary>, but are mostly comprised of very compact <glossary title="909">sand</glossary>. These cool looking rocks can also be spotted throughout the vineyard.  <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_05//ca/d9/cad9420bcbbb83630656c62b94b5f6c1.jpg" /> <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_05//fb/67/fb67bc819614304aa899aef4a88adc46.jpg" /> The vineyard is 650 meters above sea level and <glossary title="430">exposed</glossary> north. This gives the area a uniquely cool <glossary title="656">microclimate</glossary> that is very rare in the area. "It really sets it apart." The vines are 15 years old.  Here's what <glossary title="937">second growth</glossary> <glossary title="627">Mantonico</glossary> looks like.  <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_05//ff/8e/ff8eafc12a841e13e8b982f5d403054b.jpg" /> The 20 year old <glossary title="616">Magliocco</glossary> vines are just a short walk away. <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_05//de/09/de0987fabbfdabcb04c25fec4e753f79.jpg" /> <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_05//7e/93/7e9343e4d90f663bdc320ca34aa0fd19.jpg" /> <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_05//d7/e4/d7e4d19c462422731f379bc360a83e03.jpg" /> <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_05//e4/9f/e49fda96e815bdbb275edc4f609711bd.jpg" /> This represents about 1.5 <glossary title="523">hectares</glossary>.  "When we took over, it was worked MORE than <glossary title="331">conventionally</glossary>." This is what <glossary title="937">second growth</glossary> <glossary title="616">Magliocco</glossary> looks like.  <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_05//7d/e0/7de036daa57c5dbfbb3cdf9bfb0c3c35.jpg" />

producer profile 30.05.2019

L'Acino Producer Profile

producer visit 02.12.2020

A Video Tour of L'Acino's Vineyards

producer visit 05.08.2019

This visit to L'Acino took place in November, 2013