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In Valpolicella, as certainly is the case in other areas, land, work and wine are connected by an ancient, deep bond, with new characteristics and aspects, which are constructed slowly from one generation to the next, blending experience and science, tradition and creativity.

Here it is not enough to cultivate the land. The land has to be shaped and sculptured, creating terraces and slopes; it has to be retained by dry walls, which are designed to follow the general slope and the exposition to the sun. The dry walls (marogne) were developed in ancient time, as a natural process, from the mounds of stones collected from the clearing of the fields, day after day.

“Marogne”are a monument to the ecological expertise of our fathers: saving and restoring them helps us to keep in touch with old traditions, evolved along the centuries, and gives the right value to the experience acquired by our fathers in the effort to keep under control the land and with the aim of getting the best results without destroying the land’s vital flow.

The vital flow concerned every aspect of the land: the land was precious and could not be wasted. Every piece of land was used according to its vocation. A forest could furnish poles for the vineyard, acorns for pigs, leaves for feeding cows, strings to bind bundles. If converted to grass land, it could furnish chestnuts, walnuts, pears or apples.

In the same way every drop of water was precious, both the drinking water used in public fountains and the water used for irrigation and to power the mills. Every spring received the best care, it was almost nurtured; often a sacred image or a shrine was placed over a fountain for protection.

The sense of sacred sentiments was everywhere: from the road crossings marked by a monumental stone cross to the small olive wood crosses placed at the beginning of grapevine rows (filari), with the intention of saving them from hail storms or other misfortunes.

The work of the modern vineyard worker is influenced by a complete convergence between man and land, man and nature: vineyards’ shape and layout do not obey the agronomic science described in the books, but they follow our elders’ knowledge and experience. Even without chemistry they could value every piece of land, and could give the most appropriate name to their vineyards.

Then, the cultivation of the vineyard is not an ordinary work; vineyards must be raised like children, one by one. Grain, like all kind of grass, grows somehow. A tree can be shaped, as long as it is young; then, when it is tall, it grows as it wants.

The grapevine instead maintains always the right size, and the viticulturist can “look at the vine’s face”, can study it carefully, then he can decide to cut here and there. He will remember what he did at the time of the harvest, almost always receiving confirmation that the decisions taken by him months before were right; sometimes he will plan to make changes, to try other methods.

On the other hand, for the viticulturist, trying again and again is an everyday work. The variety of soils and vines and the variability of the seasons obliges him to follow closely their course, in order to anticipate problems and to adjust or reduce the treatments, always bearing in mind that good wine is born in the vineyard. And, furthermore, the Antolini brothers raise the willow-tree from which strings to fasten the grapevines are made.

Wine requires special care (“ad personam”) of the grapevine, starting from the grape: each bunch, (the most of them), is handled individually, one by one, and valued during the short time needed to place it in the box, or plateau. And its grade of maturation and its potentiality in the wine making process is determined just by touching it. Once the grapes are resting, their drying process is checked every day, adjusting ventilation if the weather is not favourable. But it is already known if a certain vineyard is more suitable to produce Valpolicella classic, Recioto or Amarone; therefore special attention can be easily planned to obtain the best results.

This attention, that comes from tradition, the same required by the most updated enological science is justified by the special place taken by wine in the people’s culture, and perhaps in our civilisation. Wine was always surrounded by a sacral halo, the signs of which are not limited to the Christian cult, but are related to the popular customs and tradition up to few decades ago: grape harvest began after the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, Recioto was decanted on Good Friday, the wine for the Holy Mass was made from grapes offered by the entire community.

Each family kept some grape bunches, hanging from the wooden beams the kitchen (el rosso, the red ones) to be eaten on Christmas, and some bottle of good wine were kept for the children’s baptisms.

The same good wine was used to confirm an agreement, a new friendship, a marriage contract: when a father was going together with his son to ask officially for the hand of the girl he loved (morosa), the assent of the girl’s father was endorsed by the invitation to sit at the table and drink a bottle di quello buono (“of the good one”).

Pier Paolo and Stefano have been farming grapevines for about 15 years, with the enthusiasm and love inherited from their father Domenico and their uncle Mario, on the family’s farmland situated in the hilly area near the little town of Marano di Valpolicella. The vineyards are located at an altitude ranging between 250 and 300 metres and they cover an area of about 4 hectares. They are exposed to the south and to the west and the composition of the soil is formed mainly by clayey-volcanic deposits. The cultivation system adopted is the traditional one of the area, the double Pergola, with an average distance of 4 metres between rows; many rows are located on the “marogne”, characteristic dry-stone walls, which form terraced fields, where often cherry and olive trees can also be found.

The farm also includes 1 hectare of vineyard, located in Semonte, near the town of San Pietro in Cariano. A piece of land of about 3 hectares has recently been acquired near the town of Negrar, along the hilly area between S. Vito and “Roselle”. In this vineyard varieties of vines typical of that area will be planted with the “guyot” system.

Since the beginning of our activity we decided to operate with the maximum respect for the environment, with the aim of utilising the minimum amount of anti-parasite chemicals.

Recently the construction of the new cellar has been completed. The rooms for drying the grapes are located at the upper floor. The ground floor will allocate in future the bottling section (at the moment it is used as a store room). Outside, under a porch, are the modern containers for the fermentation of the grapes and for the wine making process. In the underground floor are located the stainless steel containers for the storage and the aging of the wine and, in a separate room, under brick arches, are the barriques and the wooden barrels.

A few years ago grapes and wine were sold to other wine producing and bottling establishments. Recently, most wine producers have decided to bottle and sell the wine on the national and international market using their own name. For this reason a limited and selected number of bottles of high quality wine is produced, compared with a much larger amount of normal table wine that could be put on the market.

** AMARONE DELLA VALOLICELLA CLASSICO d.o.c.: 2 glasses on the Vini d’Italia  Gambero rosso guide 2007
** RECIOTO DELLA VALPOLICELLA CLASSICO d.o.c.: 1 glass on the Vini d’Italia  Gambero rosso guide 2007
** VALPOLICELLA CLASSICO SUPERIORE RIPASSO d.o.c. 1 glass on the Vini d’Italia  Gambero rosso guide 2007
** VALPOLICELLA CLASSICO d.o.c.: 1 glass on the Vini d’Italia   Gambero rosso guide 2007

Antolini Wines: www.antolinivini.it/

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