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Gessopalena: Gessi di Vini

Saturday 2 September 2023 @ 18:00 - Sunday 3 September 2023 @ 23:59 CEST

Gesapolena Nero Antico

A food and wine event highlighting Gessopalena’s native grapes and wines, Nero Antico and Vedovella.  This is the first opportunity to officially taste the wines from a Nero Antico vine rescued and thought lost after the destruction of the Second World War and its Sant’Agata massacre.

On September 24, 1843, the English writer and illustrator Edward Lear (1812 – 1888) noted in his travel diary as follows: “After passing the village of Torricella, we arrived by steep and slippery clay paths, as it had rained all night, in Gesso di Palena, where a great fair was being held; the locality was teeming with people and the roll of drums and the ringing of bells rang in my head. To eat I bought two loaves of bread and more grapes than I could eat, for the price of two grana, and was glad when I managed to make my way through the thronged crowd, mingled with sheep, pigs and laden mules. All the people looked civilized, the men wearing their hats sharper than I have observed in this district.”(E. Lear, “Excursions illustrated in the Abruzzi”, from www.viaggioadriatico.it , 2007, CISVA digital library p. 102).

The Nero Antico di Pretalucente is a native vine belonging to the territories of Gessopalena and Torricella Peligna.  The word Pretalucente is used in the local dialect to indicate the large chalk boulder on which the medieval core of the village of Gessopoaena sits.  These late-ripening medium-sized grapes have thick black skins and are ideal for wine-making and were used historically as dessert grapes at Christmastime.  A single vine was found hanging onto a Black Poplar tree near a local spring that is thought to date back 130-150 years!  A project to cultivate this vine was begun by a local family,  which was then financed by the comune to create 600 cuttings.  This is the resulting vintage from these cuttings and a fantastic testimony to bio-diversity!

Nero Antico wine is fruity, with fresh red fruits and spices, a hint of bitterness and tobacco.  The grape lends itself very well to being a spumante and rosé!

 

Nero Antico

 

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