specs.
vineyard, grape & craft
- Grape San Genovese, Granache, Vermentino, Bianchetta
- Systemtype single and double guyot
- Soil mergl & klei
- Stick density per hectare
- Avg. age of the vineyard 3 tot 57 jaar
- Avg. production per hectare 2500
La Ricolla ° Daniele Parma
Liguria
"Wine is like poetry, which is best appreciated and really understood, only when one person studies the poet’s life, his work, his character, when he or she becomes familiar...
Daniele Parma is an independent winemaker who founded Azienda Agricola La Ricolla in 2004 after twenty years of winemaking experience in the family business. The desire to make wine exclusively from his own grapes grown personally with respect for the vital cycles of the plant and the surrounding ecosystem led Daniele to a path that progressively emancipated him from the typical approach to agriculture and winemaking of the early 1980s. The realization that old vineyards bear the best fruit and express the territory more authentically prompted him first of all to search the Gulf of Tigullio for old abandoned vineyards and recover historical varieties with the idea of remaking the traditional wines he had known as a young man alongside his father and from local farmers. A Very special man, making very special wines..
A Philosophy that echoes ancient cosmic methods..
Recovery of history, study and research on the principles of biodynamics, are the values that make it possible to obtain wines with a recognizable identity, perfectly corresponding to these territories’ culture and geography, each with its personality. The respect for the land in its cycle is linked to cosmic elements, the observation of the air and the attention to the vitality of the land, they all harmoniously converge in the cellar work, with a vinification that echoes ancient methods, where time is the decisive element in the creation of wines that are the natural extension of the story of these lands.
“The peels are my yeasts
Time is my clarifier
The lees are my sulphites
Terracotta is my wood and
The vineyard is my cellar.
(D. Parma) ”
Spread over almost 5 hectares of land, divided into 6 vineyards plucked from oblivion with the intent of a cultural revaluation of its area, La Ricolla company tells a story that has its roots in ancient times. Passion and respect are the values all the production is based on, from work in the vineyard, an essential
element that allows us to bring grapes to the cellar that continue their transformation cycle into wine in a vital way, without a massive human intervention, but only following time, a faithful supporter of the past and the future.
In the words of Mario Soldati: “More than the grapes blending, what matters is the soil, the vinification method, and, above all, since we are talking about artisanal wines, the personality, the psychology of the
winemaker. Those who make wine out of passion almost always unleash their intimate, individual and unique nature in the wine”.
THE CELLAR
The study of history has allowed me to recover ancestral gestures, which modern technology had put aside,
but which, on the contrary, are a resource that enables me to complete my natural philosophy of
maximizing the grapes enhancement.
The selection during the harvest allows me to support a fully natural vinification cycle, with important
macerations, natural clarifications – as in the past, without adding sulphites or other preservative agents,
thanks to the time factor which, together with long steel and amphora aging, enables me to obtain intense
and long-lived wines in oxidation
Biodynamics aims to strengthen the plant’s vitality and resistance, allowing to improve the natural exchange between the sun and the grapes on one hand, and between the sky and the plants on the other. This aspect is encouraged by the use of specific preparations and the observation of lunar phases. Biodynamic viticulture aims to intensify the organic life of the vineyard ecosystem. Each territory, therefore, manages to best express its characteristics, thanks to the ampelographic and balance parameters. Biodynamics allows life-giving energy flows by following natural cycles and minimizing human intervention, which has the sole task of monitoring the right course of the vineyard, to obtain rich fruit.
OLD VINYARDS
“Wine is like poetry, which is best appreciated and understood, only when one person studies the poet’s life, his work, his character, when he or she becomes familiar with the environment where the poet
was born, with his upbringing and his world.
“The nobility of wine is just this: it is never a detached and abstract object, which can be judged by drinking a glass, or two or three, from a bottle that comes from a place where we have never been to. ” (M. Soldati) Over the years, our interest has increasingly turned to rediscovering forgotten corners of our land and we
have brought back to life old vineyards – often at the foot of ancient abbeys and churches, to witness the life that once took place here – replanting vineyards but always respecting the Indigenous tradition to redeem the Gulf of Tigullio which has always been mistreated.
Vermentino e Bianchetta, historical grapes vinified in purity, are located among the 6 vineyards currently active: in Tolceto, in San Salvatore di Cogorno at the foot of the splendid Basilica dei Fieschi, arranged in a fan shape, where Vermentino dominates, in Verici (kingdom of Bianchetta) and another plot towards Vignolo (in the municipality of Mezzanego)
THE TERROIR
The Tigullio area, in the province of Genoa, is set between Golfo Paradiso and Val Bisagno to the west, la Val Trebbia e la Val D’Aveto to the north, la Val di Vara and Baie del Levante area to the east.
From the historical-artistic point of view, it is very important for the beautiful coastal towns, but in the inland areas, places rich in history are nestled among the steep hills, with villages that still keep customs and traditions alive, far from contemporaneity. At present, agriculture is trying to find space again, and
due to its geographical conformation, it is a difficult, heroic agriculture, with crops that do not allow the use of technology, and where the olive tree and the vine are regaining dignity and prestige thanks to the care
and passion of enthusiastic and enlightened people who want to give new liveliness to their land.