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Profilo

Ampeleia was born in 2002, the year when Marco Tait, then young and foolish, answers the call of Elisabetta Foradori and Giovanni Podini, the current owners, to take care of the first grape harvest, without a full understanding of what awaited him. Elisabetta had known Marco for a long time, who, a recent graduate of the school of enology and viticulture, was kidnapped by the Maremma sirens’ singing.

Ampeleia had been conceived two years earlier, a dream made by three friends at high altitude: Comini lodge, 2,153 meters above sea level in the middle of the Dolomites. It is there, during the winter of 2000 that Elisabetta, Giovanni and Thomas imagine Ampeleia. They want to practice agriculture in a beautiful, but unexpected place, far from the stereotypes that revolve around the world of wine. In the following two years they travel Italy far and wide looking for that ideal spot, that will reveal itself on a Spring day at Roccatederighi. It was an exciting discovery, a place that takes your breath away, with vineyards and a terroir with an incredible potential. That’s it: Ampeleia will be born here! But as we all know, it is easier said than done. In their case, it was the hectares of land to be plough, of vineyards to be planted, of grape harvests to be done. They start right away because the land cannot wait.

Marco is won over by their dream when they meet in a booth at Vinitaly and he leaves for the Alta Maremma sure that he will stay for a only a few weeks, the time of the grape harvest; but at Roccatederighi he will plant his roots. With the foolishness and the courage of his twenties, he takes upon himself the entire management of the vineyards and the cellar. He starts with a few cement tubs and the six hectares inherited by the old owners, planted with different red grape varieties. His instinct brings him immediately to concentrate on the Cabernet Franc and he starts to frantically plant it, but without going overboard, because excellence is their goal. These are years of discovery, like the decision to concentrate on the biodynamic or that to find some friends of the Cabernet Franc, better yet if locally. So they start the recovery of the Mediterranean variety par excellence, the other soul of the Alta Maremma: the black Alicante.

Ampeleia, conceived at high altitude, like a snowball rolls over the years and grows. New vineyards are added, farm animals and many young people arrive as well, coming from many parts of Italy, to dream together with Marco. Today Ampeleia is 120 hectares of land, 35 of which are vineyards. The rest is occupied by woods, arable land and by our olive grove. Ah, we have also planted a small vegetable garden and our animals have started their families here.