“ Travel diary, discoveries and curiosities among Leopardi’s Rolling Hills of Infinity “
“The wine is the condensation of territory, of culture, of the lifestyle.”
Ernest Hemingway
Gianluca Mirizi.. the visionarie, the dreamer, the person who is always innovative, who brings the innovation to his company, the most recent progressive methods , but at the same time I should say that he is the manager in a full sense of this word, the person who is always looking for the best solution to envelop the quality and productivity of the company, the person which is always looking for the most effective way…
I don’t know why Gianluca has chosen the pseudonym Utopia, but I have an association with the book of Thomas Mann, and seems to me that Gianluca is creating his ideal state like it was Utopia.
Also his passion for Jiu Jitsu pushes us to understand that Gianluca isn’t a person with simple passions and that he is attracted by a big challenges.
Also the fact that Gianluca has decided to transfer from Rome to Marche to keep and to develop further his company and to produce here the high quality and high level products , confirm that fact Gianluca is the strong-will and self-confident person, as not everyone would able to do it.
Visiting the cellar I have had a possibility to obtain a lot of information which I didn’t know before. For sure , a many of them are clear for those person who cultivate vineyards or oliva trees , but we, who are just wine lovers and curious consumers , always could discover something new for us, because the knowledge obtained from books is not always enough to enrich our understanding .
I have discovered that there are a many of clones of oliva tree ( which is not a big surprise), but the idea to produce also the oliva oil from the one mono variety it is not so well known , at least for me.
But this is the way how Gianluca has been working always looking for the way how to produce a high quality product.
The agricultural company “Montecappone “ produces the extravergine oil from early 1960’. The are 17 hectares with olive trees owned by company, cultivated by varieties Raggia e Rosciolla . Olives are harvested by a shaker device with vibrations and with picking up umbrella, as I could see during my visit in the company. The company produce the mono variety oils ( Ascolana Tenera, Leccino and Frantoio ) .
The white grapes varieties cultivated at company’s vineyards are obviously Verdichio and Sauvignon Blanc. The vine breeding used by company is guyot and spurred cordon system.
Principal red grapes cultivated by company are Montepulciano and Sangiovese ( Sangiovese Grosso clone) , the other historical variety which together with Montepulciano is used to create the base for DOC Rosso Piceno.
There are two lines of wine production, or might be better to say, two lines of quality, Montecappone and Mirizzi. The latter one being a biological company.
Montecappone, Verdichio dei Castelli Jesi Classico, ageing 3-4 months with skins before the bottling.
Muntobe , Verdichio dei Castelli Jesi Superiore , ageing 3-4 months before the bottling , but two weeks more than in case of Montecappone.
Federico II, Verdichio dei Castelli Jesi Superiore , vinification in the steel tanks without admittance of oxygen, to increase at the maximum level the characteristics of the Verdichio grapes.
Utopia 2016 , Castelli di Jesi Verdichio Classico Riserva DOCG, is maturated one year at the cement tanks , land one more years ageing in bottle. Pale yellow brilliant. The aroma of broom, ananas , anise, thyme.The sensation on the palate slightly bitter aftertaste, sapid, mineral, well balanced wine, persistent.
We have tasted also the old vintage Utopia 2010, after the typical floral aromas of Verdichio there are presented also aromas of petroleum, of kerosene-hydrocarbons, this is fantastic ,very evaluated wine.
Tanano Igt Marche Rosso, the Montepulciano in purity, ageing 4 years inside bottles. Red ruby colour with granate reflections. The bottle after opening exploded with aroma of forests fruits, plum, notes of sour cherry, balsamic and herbal notes, spices, the scents which are opened at nose during time passed.Wine of full taste, pleasant at mouth, with silky tannins.
Ergo, Verdichio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Superiore, derived from vineyard located in Monte Roberto , the Cru of company, grapes are harvested in biological regime ( the 6 hectares part of company land , situated at 300 m above the see level, with medium pendency 33% is recognised by CERVIM as “ Heroic viticulture). The late harvest, vinification in cellar by traditional methods and the longtime ageing partially at amphora, that is how such unique wine is created.
Cogitò A, Verdichio di Castelli di Jesi Classico Superiore, vineyard located in Monte Roberto , the Cru of company, vinification at the cellar traditional, partial temperature control, fermentation and ageing with skins in cement tanks for 8 months. The wine is slightly closed at the first moment, but later will open with floral aroma of hawthorn, acacia and with slight touch of ananas , wine is fresh, sapid, persistent.
That is how I finished my visit to the company Montecappone, the company which , thanks Gianluca , is always looking for an innovative way of innovation, but with the full respect to tradition and territory.
