Vineyards
The vineyards extend on a hill, at an altitude of about 290 meters, on the calcareous and stony soil of Macchianuova in Procida land, 25 km away from the Adriatic Sea and 40 km from the Ionian Sea. The espalier vineyards, grown at spurred cordon, a native vine of Southern Italy (Aglianico) and a international variety (Cabernet sauvignon), produce about 600 hundred kilos per hectare. The growing system, together with the very low production of grape per tree stump are at the basis of a healthy product rich in sugar, tannins and extract, with an annual production of about 30,000 bottles.
A bee breeding ensures environmental monitoring thanks to their function as “environment sentinels”.
In the wood of hundred-year-old oaks an ancient well, filled with rainy waters whose capacity is about 300 cm. – a real piece of agricultural archaeology once used as an animal drinking trough – is still an important reservoir for the Spring-Summer pesticidal treatments.
After the grape harvest the field is seeded with “favino”, a leguminous plant which, seeded in Autumn, permits to control
the infesting grass during the Winter-Spring period. After you cut and inter it in Spring, the soil becomes rich in nitrogen; moreover, by adding organic substance, the capacity to keep the soil wet increases, which is of particular relevance for the Aglianico vine, which suffers during the hot season.
A drastic cutting after veraison ensures a good ventilation, together with an east-west exposure of the vineyards, which enables an effective drying of the grapes after rains, reducing in this way the number of necessary pesticidal treatments.
The adjacency of the vineyards to the winery allows the processing of the grapes simultaneously to the collection, without waiting and temperature changes: this preserves the integrity of the grapes and their varietal characteristics.