Dinner with the Winemaker
Ivan Giuliani - 25th Oct at 6.30pm

About Terenzuola Wines and the Winemaker Etho’s :

At once both Tuscan and Ligurian, the wines of Terenzuola reflect the duality of their terroir. The vineyards overlook the sea, which provides warm sun and cool breezes, but also find themselves in the Apuan Alps, perched on steep terraces at 450 mt above sea level. Expect wines with an incredible balance of fruit, minerality, acidity and complexity.

Terenzuola philosophy is very simple: the winemaker is only a moderator, overseeing the optimal development of the vine. The use of oenological products is reduced to a minimum and the winemaking procedures are extremely delicate, precisely to preserve the essence of the bunch, from the vine to the bottle. They are on a mission to recover an ampelography treasure, concentrating on ancient clones of Vermentino or rare cultivars like Albarola, Durella, Vermentino Nero, Canaiolo Nero, known here as Uva Merla, which represent their unique viticultural traditions. Terenzuola declination of Vermentino ranges from one of incredible freshness to a more complex example, close to a Riesling for character and aging potential. Permano is a rising star amongst the best Italian White wines, but wait until you taste the Vermentino Nero, of which Terenzuola is one of the very few producers to be completely blown away. The Canaiolo Nero will be our soft landing, with its rich warmth and maturity before we close the night with a real sweet treat called Sciacchetra’.

“The foundation of great wines is great grapes”.

This is the best way to introduce Terenzuola, in Lunigiana, nested between Liguria e Tuscany.

«A winemaker is only a moderator, – as Ivan loves to remind us – He has to limit his actions to those that will help the optimal development of the plant.»

The use of oenological products is reduced to a minimum and the winemaking procedures are extremely delicate, precisely to preserve the essence of the bunch, from the vine to the bottle.

«My desire is to return to the past: I would like to recover an ampelography treasure, concentrating on those cultivars, like the Vermentino Nero, Canaiolo Nero, known here as Uva Merla, Colorino which represent our territory and viticultural traditions. Our origins so rich in diversity and character, and the utmost respect for their natural expressiveness is what truly makes us unique.»

The Giuliani family arrived in New York City in the late 1800s as emigrants from a difficult corner of Emilia Romagna. In the United States, they prospered until the great depression of 1929, when they decided to return to Italy. With their savings, they purchased a small three-hectare farm in the northern part of Tuscany, between the Apennine Mountains and the sea of Liguria. The area is known as the Lunigiana – after the city of Luni, an ancient Roman colony of the second century B.C. – and throughout history it has always been a contested area between Tuscany and Liguria. Today, Ivan Giuliani is at the helm of the estate. As a young man, he helped his uncle to bottle their harvest and sell the wine to local restaurants. But in 1995, he was called away to complete his mandatory military service. He was stationed in Friuli where he learned to make better wine alongside local vignerons and gained an appreciation for the idea of living off the land. When he returned home, he decided to dedicate his life to making wine at his family estate. Sustainability and environmentally safe practices are a big part of his concern as a winemaker: only organic treatments are used and copper sulphate is avoided. In fact, Ivan created a citric acid treatment for powdery mildew to further reduce his usage of copper, even below the recommended levels of certified organic farming.