The time of harvest in Italy has always been the most awaited for all those who work in the world of wine, but also for passionate wine lovers. It is the moment in which the sums of an entire year of work and effort are taken, not always correctly repaid due to a sudden hail storm, too cold winters or the persistence of drought. A little The historical value of the harvest dates back to ancient times and has been handed down over time through agricultural work methods and peasant traditions. In many respects the harvest still takes on a ritual moment today, it has a rather strong social meaning, almost like in past decades, when friends, relatives and neighbors gathered in the vineyards, all working together in the vineyards to then celebrate the end of the harvest.
Although the advent of technology has greatly helped farmers in the tiring phase of harvesting, still in Italy the manual harvesting of the grapes resists, which in some cases is truly “heroic”, as happens with the vineyards overlooking the sea of the Amalfi Coast. In some Italian regions, such as Campania, very ancient traditions are still preserved, handed down for centuries from generation to generation.
A unique example in the world is the singular and fascinating system of cultivation of the vine for the production of Asprinio di Aversa, ” Intangible Cultural Heritage of Campania “, in the list of UNESCO heritage candidacies for the protection of the rural, ancient and of authentic tradition of viticulture.
This great little wine smells of lemon, is of a total, substantial dryness, which cannot be imagined if it is not tasted.
Mario Soldati
Arriving in the area of Aversa, in Campania, in one of the few wineries that still preserve this ancient tradition, one is immediately enchanted by the sight of the famous and spectacular vertical vineyards, which rise up to over twenty meters in height. These vineyards are called “maritate” because, to make them grow vertically and up to dizzying heights, the vine shoots are intertwined and made to climb around tall poplars. A “marriage” between the vine and the tree that supports it that lasts even more than a century, as evidenced by the centuries-old vineyards still visible in the area. On these very high vertical barriers the clusters of Asprinio ripen sheltered from the heat of the ground, waiting to be collected by brave men, called “spider men”. These valiant harvesters have to climb very narrow wooden stairs to reach the grapes. A job that requires great experience, and balancing skills to avoid the risk of falling down! Once harvested, the grapes are placed in some baskets called “fescina” which are slid along the side of the ladder, where other operators collect them and then empty them on the wagons or in crates placed at the base of the vineyard.
According to the ancient canons, the Asprinio di Aversa enjoys coolness, the right humidity and constant temperature all year round. For these reasons, it stops for the necessary time in tuff caves dug at about 13 meters deep, before being placed on the market.
The famous Maestro and orchestra composer Peppe Vessicchio participated with us at Wine Channel in the Asprinio harvest, a vine very dear to him due to its origins in Campania and the great historicity and charm that surrounds this unique vineyard in the world.
The Asprinio vine has been celebrated by wine connoisseurs, but also by important personalities who have been struck by the history of this tree-lined, because it is so called. It is also called vine married because, in order to grow the vineyard, they had to marry it with the Poplars. The poplar, however, has a shorter life than the vine, so from time to time the farmers had to plant a new poplar to continue to keep the entire net of the row. This means that a farmer here does not only think about what will happen tomorrow or in the immediate future, but thinks about what will happen to his family in tens of years and in fact precisely for this reason these scales exist. They are very narrow and tailor-made ladders for each farmer because to maintain balance there is a particular coupling mechanism: a foot and a knee must be able to guarantee those who climb to the top of the ladder a balance such as to be able to both hands are available to work.
“The grape shows itself exactly as they tell us: with a very high acidity, they say it is the grape with the greatest acidity that is encountered in these parts and beyond, it seems that even the French appreciated the acidity of this cluster. I can confirm a sweetness and an extremely pleasant taste and I can already imagine how it will transform through the hands of man and through the right action in the bottle. It is a very different wine from the others and with its own strong personality, which is why we find traces and citations of the value of this vine and of the wine with all the history and its charm in the writings of Pasolini or Mario Soldati, who just do not have I knew how to refrain from the expression and this is exactly what I felt: the urgency to tell this marvel “.
The origins of this vine are still all shrouded in mystery.
One of the most fascinating hypotheses is what Asprinio di Aversa wants to belong to the great Pinot family (I like to remember the Pinot de Menier, the Miller’s Pinot, so called because whoever collected it seemed to have come out of an oven due to the abundant presence of bloom on the surface of the grain) because apparently during the French domination the king needed to find a vine that best suited the production of wines refermented in the bottle and it is likely that a biotype of Pinot was brought to this area.
Another hypothesis traces the origin of this vine to the Etruscans and to the ability to have domesticated wild vines using poplars that grew particularly luxuriant in this area as support.
A very important aspect that also affects the acidity of this grape and that we find in the wine we drink is also notable distance of the bunches from the ground and therefore do not enjoy the reflected heat of the ground and this contributes to increasing the acidity of this grape which is highest among all known grapes.
It is also beautiful, as often in this territory, how man has had to adapt and make a virtue of necessity: this system of vertical farming in addition to making natural windbreak barriers, then allowed to cultivate other cultures for the subsistence of families of these areas.
