A great traditional background runs through this place nestled in southern Italy. It sits along the Volturno river, on a 25 year old vineyard surrounded by rolling hills and picturesque valleys. Two elegant and rare grapes, red and white pallarella, grow among the olive trees and make two great wines: Pallagrello bianco e Pallagrello nero. Plus, Maria Carolina wine, or as Paola likes to call it “meditation wine.” It is another white wine but it’s from the highest quality selection (gran riserva di Pallagrello bianco in purezza). Bringing us back to the history of the area, it’s a tribute to Queen Maria Carolina.
In fact, Pallagrello wine is linked to a history of great splendor and to court banquets. it was used at the court of the Bourbon King Ferdinand I and has been cultivated for such a long time that it is even mentioned in Latin agricultural literature. This regal wine, from a grape shaped like a small round ball (a “pillolata”), was originally called Piedimonte bianco and nero because the area where it was produced was in Piedimonte Matese.
Smooth, fruity, full bodied and salty with a lingering aftertaste, the white wine is solid and fills your senses. The red, instead, is exactly how it should be. It’s the true version of Pallagrello nero, rugged and robust just like the nature of the land that feeds the grapes.
What’s ganzo about Paola is that instead of using an old fashioned bottle with a generic packaging she uses bright and modern colors and communicates the spirit of the wine in a fresh and modern way without betraying tradition.
When she says she “is in love with this place” and that “you can travel all over the world with your bottle of wine”, Paola actually does it. Her logo is a hedgehog, which is what her last name, Riccio, means in Italian and it symbolizes her strong relationship with the land she comes from.
2 comments
paola riccio says:
Dec 27, 2011
Nadia was really very sensitive .She managed to catch the spirit of our work.
Thank you.
Gianfrancesco D'Andrea says:
Jan 27, 2012
wonderful!!!