text by Ivan Masciovecchio.
Characterised, among other things, by the presence of centuries-old olive groves that encircle the town, the splendid crib-like village of Loreto Aprutino strikes the heart as soon as it slowly unfolds in all its beauty along the scenic State Road 151. At the top of Via del Baio - the road that connects the Chiola Castle to the Church of San Pietro Apostolo - stand some of the town's most significant buildings, including that of the Valentini family, whose wines have written indelible pages of national wine history. A few doors further on, after remaining silent for about 25 years, since 2016 the ancient Cantina Amorotti, in operation since the 18th century and in service for over two centuries.
ph. Andrea Straccini
The idea of bringing this immense heritage of memory and memories back to life is due to the volcanic Gaetano Carboni, he is the last descendant of a family that arrived in Abruzzo from the Duchy of Mantua in a rather incredible way, whose agricultural activity has been documented at these latitudes since the 16th century and to whom Loreto Aprutino owes the name of the palace that houses the Museum of Olive Oil, known to all as Castelletto Amorotti.
After an initial conservative restoration of the 'fragile and complicated' interiors and the purchase of new equipment, young Gaetano has returned to make the streets of the historic centre smell of must, resuming the old wine-making system used in the past, with the grapes placed in boxes after the harvest and taken immediately to the village to be sent to the crusher through a steel chute located at a small window visible on the façade of the building along Via del Baio. "It's not a very simple operation today,' he confides, modestly opening the doors of what was his maternal great-grandparents' house until the early 1950s and has been uninhabited ever since, 'both because the road is public and above all because the church, located a few metres away, is particularly busy during the harvest months for weddings and other ceremonies, so we have to go back and forth by vehicle.
ph. Andrea Straccini
Stepping through the front door, we are greeted by a small courtyard of what must have originally been a monastery from the late 15th century, where the oldest part is represented by four stone windows bound by the Fine Arts. "Some structures we have yet to understand what function they had, certainly there is an old cistern for collecting water built in later stages, as well as the pre-existing inlet channel for grapes dug into the masonry and closed in the 19th century". Inside the house, full of memories and suggestions is the kitchen, where everything has been deliberately left as it was at the time of the great-grandparents, with time seemingly crystallising on the original furnishings, the smoke-blackened walls, the old dishwasher and other work tools hanging on the walls.
The cellar proper is located on a lower level. It runs practically under two adjoining buildings, developing along a maze of rooms with original cobblestone floors and brick vaults that exude charm and mystery at every step. One enters the restored part first, precisely the rooms that house the crusher-stemmer and wine press, followed by those that house the barrels - all new, made of untoasted Slavonian oak - used for both fermentation and ageing. In particular, we rely on 550 litre tonneaux for Trebbiano d'Abruzzo, 25 hectolitre barrels for Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo and 50 hectolitre barrels (sometimes 15) for Montepulciano d'Abruzzo.
ph. Andrea Straccini
"In the cellar, we try to continue the organic processing that we practise in the vineyard, limiting interventions to a minimum through spontaneous fermentation and the use of indigenous yeasts, no filtering and no clarification, vinifying with respect for tradition, the knowledge that has been passed down to us and the place where we are located. The liquid remains in the barrels for a variable period, in any case a minimum of one year for Trebbiano and Cerasuolo, two for Montepulciano. The period of refinement in the bottle, on the other hand, we are still experimenting with'.
As Gaetano continues the story, with eyes still full of wonder we move to the largest room, restored later because it was found to be in a worse condition. Here is the ancient crushing tank called calcatorium in which the grapes arrived from the small window found in the cloister above, now walled up, as mentioned above. In the centre of the room is a square concrete tank (re-lined) of about 23 hectolitres, made in the 1960s, used for both fermentation and racking. In the future, the room will also house two more large 50-hectolitre barrels and one 25-hectolitre barrel where Trebbiano will also be tried. "We currently produce about 18,000 bottles, half of which are Montepulciano d'Abruzzo and the other half divided between Trebbiano and Cerasuolo, with a slight predominance of white. With the installation of the new barrels we could reach a maximum of about 30,000 bottles, not more, because the small, complicated and fascinating project that we are carrying out with commitment and passion we want to commensurate with the existing architecture. We are under an old building and we intend to realise only what the space allows us'.
ph. Andrea Straccini
In addition to their host location, Gaetano and his fellow adventurers - with him, fellow sommelier Hela Bonaci, oenologists Dario Perfetti and Nicola Di Ciano and a close-knit agricultural team for the work in the field - they also bring respect to the vineyard, both old and new, with marquee training using hand-stripped chestnut poles; to the grapes, carefully harvested at sunrise and immediately brought to the cellar so that the temperature does not rise, thus activating fermentation; and above all to the wine, a living product that needs its time to evolve and manifest all its character. "Our releases do not follow the calendar, but respect the progression of the seasons; with the white, for example, we released the 2017 vintage first and then the 2016. Currently available are Trebbiano and Cerasuolo 2016 and 2017 and Montepulciano 2016'.
The must-scented journey, suspended between past, present and future, is completed by passing by the barrels where the 2018 vintage is currently resting. There is also the 2017 Montepulciano that is just waiting for the right time to be bottled. Once the time has come to taste these artisanal wines at a slow and thoughtful pace, Gaetano takes his leave of us, entrusting us with another small piece of his working philosophy. 'Wine has the great ability to say something different to each of us. Our idea is to make long-lived wines, appreciable immediately, but still capable of evolving over time. Wines that carry within their terroir, the locus where the vine sinks its roots, wines that are the story of the vintage that generated them, always different from each other, children of the climate and environmental conditions in which they took shape and substance; as in 2016 with its warm winter and wet, cold and rainy summer, as opposed to the very hot and dry 2017'.
ph. Andrea Straccini
Wines that exhort us to never forget, our origins and the road that we and our ancestors have travelled - in this case the vineyards we have walked - to get to be who we are. Obliviscor Nunquam. In addition to the image of a heart pierced by three darts - the ancient family crest that recalls finished and painful loves - this is the imperative stamped on the labels of the bottles that Gaetano carefully pours for us. The cork bears a ciphered code - which we will not reveal even under torture - capable of pervading with mystery wines already loaded with the archaic taste of memory. To discover the solution, all that remains is to drink them, allowing oneself to be conquered by a tale of Abruzzo that smacks of the past, but which travels swiftly towards the future. A story of amor(otti) to which we wish a long and good life, raising our glasses and quenching our hearts.