Buriana 2023 - Jacopo Stigliano

Jacopo is a well-travelled lover of life and people, and even spent a year studying sociology at UCC here in Cork. He returned home to Valsamoggia, in the Apennine foothills of Emilia-Romagna, almost a decade ago, embarking on this significant project to preserve the millennia-old winemaking traditions of his region and the autochthonous varieties that grow in the valley's ancient vineyards. Restoring three hectares of old, co-planted vines on the lower part of the valley from abandonment, Jacopo's work preserves the vanishing viticultural practices of his home, with his approach in the vineyard and cellar deeply informed by the work of his mentors Antonio Ognibene, Giorgio Erioli, and Vittorio Graziano. The vineyards he tends were planted at a time before the prescriptions of industrialised farming swept the region, where each variety had a dedicated role in the balance of the vineyard and in the wine itself. Today, it’s rare to find many of these varieties growing anywhere, let alone beyond the crest of this valley. Jacopo prefers to pick everything at once, allowing each wine to ferment and age in one large mass, just as it would have been done when these vines were first planted.

Emilia-Romagna's Apennine foothills were once planted in what local farmers called coltura promiscua: vines, fruit trees, and grain grown together on the same land, with dozens of grape varieties sharing the same parcel rather than separated by variety or site. Industrial viticulture dismantled most of that in the second half of the twentieth century, replacing it with monoculture plantings of a handful of commercial varieties. The old mixed plantings Jacopo works in Valsamoggia are among the few that survived, a reminder of why his work is so significant. Growing on clay and fractured limestone at 300 or so masl. In Valsamoggia, like elsewhere, fermenting white wines on their skins was standard practice for centuries. Before stainless steel and temperature control became standard practice in mid-twentieth century, and without the equipment or space to separate the juice from the skins immediately, winemakers often loaded the harvested white grapes into vessels whole, yielding wines that were amber and textured. Buriana follows that cue, with everything picked together, macerated together and fermented and aged together as would have been the way when these vines were planted almost a century ago. The vine selection tells us much about the sharp intuitions and deep familiarity growers once had with their particular parcels. While it's understood this co planting was a natural disease management strategy, with some vines more resistant to pests and disease pressure than others, it's difficult to imagine the people who planted these vines didn't have the finished wine in mind. With Buriana, we feel this equilibrium in the wine, with its balance of weight, freshness, bitterness, and acidity. It's this rich chorus of tonal synchronicity that makes this wine so singular and significant.

Grapes: Ancient Blend

Region: Valsamoggia, Emilia-Romagna, Italy