Podere il Saliceto

Podere il Saliceto

Emilia-Romagna

Campogalliano

Podere il Salicetto is a tiny 4-hectare operation founded and run by Gian Paolo Isabella and his brother-in-law Marcello Righi in the small village of Campogalliano, Modena. The estate was founded in 2005 with the intention of championing the local Lambrusco varieties, Lambrusco di Sorbara and Salamino, as well as some more obscure autochthonous grapes. And while the production of Lambrusco is far from unusual in these parts, the approach and the ambitions of the pair certainly were.

It is no secret that Lambrusco is one of Italy’s most commercialised and derided products, sullied as it has been by industrial production and an almost universal lack of quality aspirations. Gian Paolo and Marcello...READ MORE

Podere il Saliceto

Emilia-Romagna

Campogalliano

Podere il Salicetto is a tiny 4-hectare operation founded and run by Gian Paolo Isabella and his brother-in-law Marcello Righi in the small village of Campogalliano, Modena. The estate was founded in 2005 with the intention of championing the local Lambrusco varieties, Lambrusco di Sorbara and Salamino, as well as some more obscure autochthonous grapes. And while the production of Lambrusco is far from unusual in these parts, the approach and the ambitions of the pair certainly were.

It is no secret that Lambrusco is one of Italy’s most commercialised and derided products, sullied as it has been by industrial production and an almost universal lack of quality aspirations. Gian Paolo and Marcello saw things differently. After working for other makers both locally and further afield (and for Gian Paolo, after retiring from a successful competitive Muay Thai career), they took the plunge on their own acreage, approaching it in a way that was somewhat of a shock to other farmers.

Their approach in the vineyard is organic, with the work both meticulous and manual, from pruning to picking. They pursue low yields through strict pruning and a green harvest, anathema to most growers in this part of the country. Those yields are now a quarter to a third of what the regulations mandate, and that is something that is palpable in the wines – concentration of flavour and deep complexity, while still retaining poise, purity and a bracing cut of freshness. These are ground-breaking wines that will radically alter any misconceptions about what Lambrusco can be.

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