Antica Masseria Venditti in Castelvenere -- CERTIFIED ORGANIC!
Back in 1988, the Italian wine guide Gambero Rosso introduced the word organic for the first time with its review of Venditti's wines. For over 20 years, Nicola Venditti has believed in tilling the soil and being certified organic. Those who still believe that “organic” equals “non-scientific” should think again. Nicola is an enologist and the very incarnation of a contadino (farmer). The vineyards have been in the family for over 400 years (thus the “antica” part of Antica Masseria), and he feels deeply passionate about his territory of Sannio, an area that may be less well known than the neighboring Taurasi, but is a real forgotten gem; see the picture here of nearby San'Agata dei Goti.
Nicola Venditti eschews oak and kneels at the altar of steel; letting these wines really show their clean and distinct fruit of the native grapes (some of which he only cultivates). Come before harvest, and Mr. Venditti will you taste the rare grape Barbertta in his didactic vineyard; and explain how Montepulciano and Barbera where catch-words for varieties people knew by sight by didn't have a set name for. His cantina is clean and he gladly whistles out PH and acid levels for those inclined. This humanist-techno-geek approach, he explains, is a combination of the "humanity" of ancient methods and local varieties, together with the "rationality" offered by technology.
For example, the photograph is not about lunar cycles, but is the night-time harvest he favors in order to bring in the grapes at a lower temperature for more precise aromatics and fruit flavors. The cleaner and fresher that the fruit is brought in, the cleaner and fresher the wine. The harvest continues through the night and ends with a celebration: a large traditional breakfast, replete with wine, bread, and other various sweet and salty foods. Bread dipped in wine is a favorite.
The humanity-cum-technology theme continues in the didactic vineyard, where Nicola has assembled and labeled the grape varieties in an effort to show the differences between Falanghina, Grieco di Castelvenere, Piedirosso, Barbetta, Aglianico, and more. When we were there soon before harvest we did a tasting of the grapes themselves, followed by the wines accompanying a lengthy lunch.
That same vibrancy of fruit we tasted in the grapes on the vine was echoed in the wines. And that may be the best way to summarize these wines: all different and unique, but all with clean vibrant fruit (no Brett or oxidation), and they are not in the least marred by wood or out of place high alcohol.
The Falanghina is round and agile; the fresh side of pineapple, with a creamy lemon consistency. The Aglianico is edgy, with high-tone red fruit and an alluring nose of bark and antique rose. The Barbetta is low in tannins, floral, packed with dark fruit; we are thankful that the Vendetti ancestors saved it from the phylloxera plague.
The two uvaggi or field blends are not to be underestimated, with their unassuming Sannio DOC Rosso or Sannio DOC Bianco labels. Here are wines that highlight native grapes and offer a certain complexity of the field blend itself; here the whole is definitely greater than the parts. Try them and you'll see what we mean.
