During the barbarian and cruel era where everything is smart, glittering, fabulous and unavoidably social, it is not that easy to work as a winemaker and carry on with your own company: among boxes of grapes, it is not easy to find a bit of time to take selfie maybe with a smiley face.
But, there is someone who has found a solution for this madness! His name is Manuel Pulcini, from Rome, who lives in the wild forests of the Lucca hills; here, he has started for some years a project: a wine farm for natural wines.
Manuel’s story resembles the American Dream: after years of study and a degree in enology, he rents some abandoned vineyards in the province of Lucca, for a painful yet worthy amount of money. His mission? He wanted to inherit what the last generation left, a forgotten lifestyle and vineyards covered by brambles, that he could bring back go its peak years.
But, if the dream is so big seeming pretty impossible, the philosophy on the basis is exactly the opposite.
Manuel is an enthusiast returning to the agricultural origins, to the old peasants’ traditions, to moral agriculture where the laws are not enounced by the market but by nature and its resources.
Effectively, he makes natural wines, but as a unique philosopher that he is, he despises labels and doesn’t want his wine to be tagged at all.
A strong group of people, similar to Brancaleone’s army, supports Manuel to realize this revolutionary vision of wine. They help him in the most difficult moments of the vineyard: during the pruning, the bottling phase, and of course the harvest.
The guys during the harvest
But beware! Don’t judge a book from its cover!
These guys with shears on their hands from pruning, always ready to celebrate every event with a justified barbecue, are a group of extraordinary winemakers, with a lot of harvests on their backs, done in two different hemispheres.
So, the farm becomes the anti-conventional re-interpretation of the concept of social media: a hangout for the students belonging to the agrarian faculty of Pisa, that desires to have a real and genuine winemaking experience.
Furthermore, Homo Enologus has also contrived an intelligent way to utilize several instruments offered by modern technology. Effectively, if you have the chance to go to San Macario a Monte, you will find many young volunteers from all the world that, thanks to the program Wwoof (English association that promotes the countryside life), work, hoe the ground, and decant together with Manuel, in return for accommodation, a generous meal and the priceless experience of having a contact with nature… For everything else, there’s Mastercard!
In this bucolic contest characterized by creative turmoil and fermentation, laughter and experience, an extraordinary generation of wine was born, which for instance, has been already found and applauded by DoctorWine.
Every wine is dedicated to an element, earth or fire, water or air, the one that had a significant role in the winemaking, where the role of the man is reduced to that of a scribe, who translated and copied what mother nature was thinking about.
Among the seven labels, the last one produced, in my opinion, is absolutely the most interesting. Inspired by the earth, its label is worthy of a Nobel prize.
I am talking about Vizio Ramingo. Even if it is a newborn wine, it has already a #Sage #Character (we tasted it together during the Sangiovese and its brothers).
Vizio Ramingo
Vicious, like only wine could be, was born from a blend of Sangiovese, Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet, Ciliegiolo, farmed in different vineyards, each one with a terroir that describes the magnificence of Tuscany and its different accents.
Still young in its angularities, (the first vintage was 2017), it surprises you with an alcoholic warmth, making you feel at home. It has an important structure and, every sip you take reminds you of an atavic tradition.
Gifted with undeniable longevity, it will give its best during the following aging years. In the meantime, I suggest you buy a box, save three bottles for the future, and allow yourself to be surprised with the other ones, discovering all the scents of its unique bouquet: pansy, red fruit, vanilla, coffee, aromatic grass.
Now, also follow the advice given by who produces this wine and match it with a delicious mature pecorino cheese from Tuscany. While you enjoy this delicatessen, take a selfie and send it to Manuel: he will know that you are part of the crew!
Make the test and find out if this is the ideal wine for you!
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