The social project launched in 2012 with Italy’s unique, and last, 150-year-old penal island.
Gorgona, ITALY – September 13th 2021. The eighth Frescobaldi wine estate, Gorgona, celebrates the release of its ninth vintage. Every year, the new cru of Italy’s last penal colony, founded in 1869, is anxiously awaited. Since 2012, the inmates on the island have combined Vermentino and Ansonica to produce Gorgona; in exchange, they get the opportunity to spend their sentences in a meaningful way, learn a new profession, and restore faith in the future.
The compelling, wild wine” that is Gorgona, infused with an impulse of emotions, conveys recovery, hints of hope, and releases redemption.
“We have had the privilege of working here on this extraordinary island for almost a decade now, and every year increases our pride in this project,” stated Marchesi Frescobaldi President Lamberto Frescobaldi. “Our ninth vintage displays its one-of-a-kind terroir. Here on Gorgona, surrounded by its seaside scents and tastes, is everything one could want: love for this island, mankind’s loving attention, hope for a better life, the influence of the sea, and this extraordinary environment – all elements that combine to bring forth a wine that is inimitable, innately exclusive, and a symbol of hope and freedom. In a word, it is the very quintessence of this corner of our planet and of our project. Gorgona is a symbol that never ceases to gift us excitement.”
Gorgona’s front label aspires to be a “limited edition” newsletter that communicates a different aspect of the island, with each vintage telling a new story of this unique place. Stepping onto Gorgona means immediately discovering the utterly distinctive biodiversity; a dense Mediterranean scrub and an uncontaminated sea, and with fortifications studded throughout the landscape as well which act as a testimony to past civilisations, plus a small church that Cistercian monks built in the 18th century and dedicated to San Gorgonio.
The Gorgona 2020 label tells us about this fortress and various towers on the island. On the steep, craggy western coast, 200 metres above the sea, rises the Torre Vecchia, a massive Pisan fortress, or stronghold, sheathed in local stone and built between the 11th and 13th centuries. Now in ruins, it once guarded the stretch of the Mediterranean facing Corsica and protected the monks from frequent pirate attacks. On the opposite side of the island, facing mainland Italy, lies Cala dello Scalo, a fishing port dominated by the Torre Nuova, a fort erected by the Medici in the 17th century to complete the island’s defensive perimeter. Finally, the island also boasts two towers built of reddish stone constructed in the late 19th century to track activities on the mainland. Rising near the edge of the pine woods, near the vineyards, is the Torre dell’Orologio, named after its sundial, and, looking towards Cala Scirocco, is Torre Garibaldi.
The 2020 growing year on Gorgona started off with frequent rains, but temperatures were never excessive, thanks to constant sea breezes. As usual on this island, the vines started their growing-cycle early, budding out in the first week in March. A rather enjoyable spring of mild, sunny days encouraged vine development, followed by a somewhat cooler than normal summer. Temperatures rose starting in late July, but the island’s unique, sea-tempered climate, plus some isolated showers, ensured that the clusters were in perfect shape by harvest. An equally sun-blest, but well-ventilated September bought excellent levels of polyphenols, along with intense, elegant aromatic complexes.
Gorgona 2020 exhibits a gorgeous Mediterranean radiance, reflecting the warmth of the sun that caresses the island and the crispness of the unceasing sea breezes. It appears a deep straw yellow with gold highlights. Its bouquet is an elegant marriage between classic Mediterranean florality and fruit, with pungent notes of cistus, curry plant, and juniper melding into broom and hawthorn blossom. They are flanked by fragrant impressions of tropical fruit such as pineapple and passion fruit, lifted by citrusy notes of bergamot.
On the palate, it exhibits superb tangy fruit and a crisp acidity that duet together in splendid harmony, an equilibrium that finds an intriguing foil in the initial smooth mouthfeel and in the extreme grace through the entire progression. As with previous vintages of Gorgona, the 2020 marks another impressive chapter in the history of this wine. Those who savour it will be tasting the delights of a story that only this small great island can testify to.
Gorgona is made from organically-farmed Vermentino and Ansonica grapes, and in limited quantities: only 9,000 bottles. In just 7 years, it has conquered markets across the globe, from New York to Tokyo, and above all has captured the hearts of those fortunate enough to have tasted it.
THE VISION
“Frescobaldi for the social good” began in August 2012. Before it involved wine production, it was a multi-year project involving collaboration with the authorities of the penal colony, whose objective was to get the inmates involved in practical viticultural work. Under the supervision of Frescobaldi agronomists and winemakers, the inmates restored and cultivated a one-hectare vineyard on the island, to which over the years Frescobaldi added another 1.3 hectares of vines.
THE VISION
“Frescobaldi for the social good” began in August 2012. Before it involved wine production, it was a multi-year project involving collaboration with the authorities of the penal colony, whose objective was to get the inmates involved in practical viticultural work. Under the supervision of Frescobaldi agronomists and winemakers, the inmates restored and cultivated a one-hectare vineyard on the island, to which over the years Frescobaldi added another 1.3 hectares of vines.
THE PROJECT
The Gorgona project was launched in August 2012, fruit of a collaboration between Frescobaldi and Gorgona, Europe’s only remaining island-penitentiary. The inmates spend the final period of their detention here, working and living in contact with nature, creating for themselves a professional means of re-joining the workforce and the community at large. The project took root in a small vineyard lying in the heart of an amphitheatre high over the sea; its goal was to enable the inmates to gain personal, hands-on, professional experience in the field of viticulture. Under the supervision of Frescobaldi agronomists and winemakers, a few rows of organically-grown Sangiovese and Vermentino Nero yielded Gorgona Rosso, with the 2015 vintage, which matured in large terracotta jars. With additional plantings in 2015, that vineyard has grown today to almost two and a half hectares of Vermentino and Ansonica, which now produce Gorgona, the perfect expression of the uniqueness of this corner of earth and the work of man, and eloquent symbol of hope and freedom.
STAGES OF THE PROJECT
In May 2013, the first vintage of Gorgona (2013) was submitted to the authorities in Rome, and in September Lamberto Frescobaldi presented magnum number 0 to Giorgio Napolitano, President of Italy.
In June 2014, Frescobaldi signed a 15-year contract for collaboration with the administration of the penal colony, and the winery hired and paid two inmates to work in the Gorgona vineyard.
In February 2015, under supervision by Frescobaldi winemakers, inmates planted another hectare of Vermentino, to involve more inmates in the viticultural work and to obtain, in another four years, a better-quality wine. The total hectares thus rose to 2.3.
In June 2018, the sixth vintage of Gorgona was bottled, 2017, in an edition of 9,000 bottles. The bottle label focused on the island fauna, which was perfectly adapted to the island’s biodiversity: wild rabbits, peregrine falcons, and seagulls, who chose Gorgona as their nesting place.
PARTNERS
Andrea Bocelli created the text and signed the bottle label of the 2013 vintage.
Simonetta Doni, with Studio Doni & Associati, one of the very few international wine-label design agencies, donates her talents every year for the label graphics. Together with a highly-qualified team of experts in culture and art, she graphically interprets the characteristics that make the project and its island so distinctive.
Giorgio Pinchiorri, owner of Enoteca Pinchiorri, one of the most famous Italian restaurants world-wide, participates in the project by utilising his distinctive cuisine to promote appreciation of Gorgona’s tradition of food and wine.
Argotractors, part of the Gruppo Argo, was founded in 2007 to create a world-class tractor enterprise; it donated a vineyard tractor for use on the island.
