TENUTA SAN FRANCESCO
Tramonti, Italy
In 2004, four friends broke away from the Cooperativa dei Vignaioli di Tramonti to begin their own winery in Tramonti. Since the co-op's inception in the 1980's, Gaetano and Generoso Bove, Vincenzo D’Avino and Luigi Giordano had watched as Campania navigated a tumultuous pair of decades punctuated by the devastating outbreak of Mad Cow disease. This wrought hardship on the region's agricultural economy, revenues of small farmers drying up in an instant. Gaetano had a particular appreciation for the struggle of the Campanian farmer; he had left his career as a veterinarian to pursue his dream in the wine business.
It was the establishment of the Amalfi Coast PDO that revived the area's economic hopes - the packaging of the region's rich array of specialties like lemons, cheeses, olives, and of course, wine partnered with a vibrant tourism trade. Joining the Amalfi Renaissance, as it were, the quartet seized the moment to establish their own winery, an homage to the one of the most breathtakingly beautiful places on the planet, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Perched at their headquarters, an 18th century family estate in Tramonti, Tenuta San Francesco offers wines of unmistakably southern Italian character with unusual freshness and verve.
The team farms 14 hectares of vines on volcanic soils mixed with iron-rich clay and limestone at between 200 and 600 meters of elevation. Many of the vineyards are extremely steep, some terraced, precluding the use of heavy machinery to plough or harvest. The vines themselves are ungrafted, pre-Phyloxxera, some well over 100 years of age. The focus is on native Campanian varieties: Tintore, Aglianico, and Piedrosso for reds; Falanghina Biancolella, and Pepella on the white side. Organics are practiced in the vineyards, though they have not applied for certification. Vines are trained using a distinctive radial pergola system, creating picturesque canopies of ancient, gnarled trunks.
In the winery, fermentation is initiated using a pied de cuve of native yeasts. Most of the wines see only stainless steel before bottling save some of the higher end, tiny production red bottlings. The 'Per Eva' Bianco is of particular note: from Vigna dei Preti (Vineyard of the Priests), an especially old block at a soaring 500-600m of altitude.
Wines
Tenuta San Francesco Costa d'Amalfi Tramonti Bianco
Tenuta San Francesco Costa d'Amalfi Tramonti Bianco 'Per Eva'