Nicola Biasi is NextInWine 2015

Deep knowledge of the environmental resources of the territory in which he has planted his vineyards, his boldness in furthering a not easy nor trivial project: this are the qualities that have made Nicola Biasi the winner of NextInWine 2015, reserved for the young talents under 35 of Vigna Italia, able to look to the future with innovative ideas for the future, while maintaining strong the bond with his roots. To conceive the award, now in its fourth edition, were Simon & Sirch Grapes Preparators and the Italian School of Vine Pruning, in collaboration with Bibenda and the Italian Sommelier Foundation. 34 years old, Nicola wanted to present again quality viticulture in an area that now is totally dedicated to apple growing, but in the past the ideal resort for grapes, Còredo in the Non Valley. An unpublished project, both for the area in which it has become reality, and for the choice to grow varieties resistant to disease, with the declared objective to produce healthy wines and to protect the environment.

The award ceremony took place and on the occasion of the presentation of the Bibenda Guide 2016, held on 21 November in Rome. The second ranked, Paolo Giuseppe Mancino, from Puglia, is a "would–be bank clerk" who, caught by a sudden and irresistible love for the vine, restores an old millstone in Sava, home of Primitivo di Manduria, and manages to find a perfect synthesis between tradition and innovation, with vinification in steel, aging in small wood barrels and conservation in capasoni, terracotta amphoras, a rarity of farmer’s archeology. The third ranked, Gabriele di Mare of Cirò, entrusts the thousands–year–old tradition of his Calabria land, where the winners of the Olympic games in the classical age were awarded with Cirò wine and where he grows Gaglioppo and Greco Bianco together with international grape varieties such as Merlot and Sauvignon. With his brother he practices sustainable viticulture and enhances the quality of grapes with a winery of recent construction. Won in previous years by Pierpaolo Di Franco and Davide Fasolini of Dirupi, Arianna Occhipinti, Roberto Matzeu, NextInWine is characterized more and more by the fact that the "new wine growers" say they intend to develop a sustainable viticulture and to focus their activity on innovation, in the vineyard and in the winery, backed by knowledge. This year, an innovation of the award is that the three finalists will be guests in some of the most renowned companies in Italy, for a unique educational experience. To welcome them, for a week, there will be Bellavista, Ceretto, Ferrari, Feudi San Gregorio, Petra, Planeta, Schiopetto, partners of the Grapes Preparators in this project. To wait for them, an intense and useful program to deepen their knowledge and feed their passion for their work: the young winemakers, in effect, will have the chance to experience in first–hand the life of a prestigious company and participate in the various processing steps, from the vineyard to the winery, from communication to marketing.