The first harvest was in 2012 and since then Gorgona wine has been produced together with the prisoners of the penal colony who in exchange ask for the dream of another possibility to rewind the tape of one's life: learning a trade, passing the time profitably and believe in tomorrow. An "attractive and wild" wine that tastes like redemption, imbued with hope and a desire for revenge that is a riot of emotions and has arrived today to present to the world the vintage of 2022: the 11th.
"This project makes us prouder every year and with the 2022 harvest, the eleventh for Gorgona wine, we have entered the second decade of the Social Project" - these are the words of Lamberto Frescobaldi, President of Marchesi Frescobaldi , who adds - " We have the he unique opportunity to experience this extraordinary island, here in Gorgona there is everything in the scents and flavors: the love for the island, the care and passion of man, the hope of a better life, the influence of the sea and a wonderful environment. There are just over two hectares of vineyard and they give life to an inimitable and exclusive wine, a symbol of hope and freedom that is amplified all over the world. In Gorgona there is the 'uniqueness' of this land and of a project which, with the production of a very small number of bottles, never ceases to arouse emotions and make us proud”.
The Gorgona label wants to be the "extra edition" of the island, telling a different aspect every year. With Gorgona 2022 we have focused again on the extraordinary biodiversity that this tiny island manages to preserve. The eleventh harvest of Gorgona tells us about orchids, on the island we find many varieties that bloom at different times.
Gorgona was born on ferrous soil, it is a small vineyard of two hectares, wonderfully exposed to the east and protected from the winds. A vineyard planted in 1999, and subsequently in 2015 and 2018, where the Vermentino and Ansonica varieties have always been the undisputed protagonists of this extraordinary wine. Gorgona embodies all the essence of the island.
Gorgona 2022 has a straw yellow color, with golden reflections and crystalline brilliance. The nose is an explosion of Mediterranean flora: white and yellow flowers among which emerge daisy, chamomile, hawthorn, mimosa and broom. This is followed by clear hints of exotic fruit, passion fruit, mango and pineapple. The fruity notes follow one another without interruption and citrus flavors of cedar and mandarin soon emerge. The olfactory finish is mineral, dominated by iodized notes.
In the mouth it is sapid and at the same time fresh and long. Its persistence is remarkable and the taste-olfactory response is total. Every year Gorgona amazes us and is surpassed by the complexity and intensity of the organoleptic sensations it gives us. Such a unique place could only generate an extraordinary wine.
THE VISION
Frescobaldi per il sociale was born in August 2012, even before being a wine it is a multi-year project that arises from the collaboration with the management of the penal colony, whose goal is to allow prisoners to have a concrete and active experience in the field of viticulture . Under the supervision of Frescobaldi's agronomists and oenologists, the inmates brought back to production and cultivated a hectare of vineyard on the island, to which was added over the years 1.3 Ha planted by Frescobaldi.
THE PROJECT
The Gorgona project was born in August 2012 thanks to the collaboration between Frescobaldi and Gorgona, the only penitentiary island in Europe. Here the inmates spend the last period of their sentence, working in contact with nature to develop skills that facilitate their reintegration into working and social reality.
Around a small vineyard, in the heart of an amphitheater overlooking the sea, the project begins whose objective is to allow prisoners to have a concrete and active experience in the field of viticulture, with the collaboration and supervision of agronomists and Frescobaldi winemakers. Gorgona Rosso sees the light with the 2015 harvest, from a few rows of Sangiovese and Vermentino Nero, grown in organic farming and then refined in terracotta jars. Today the vineyard has an extension of almost two and a half hectares, of which an initial one and a second one planted in 2015. From this vineyard of Vermentino and Ansonica comes Gorgona, fruit of the uniqueness of the place, of the work of man and symbol of hope and freedom.
THE TIMES OF THE PROJECT
In May 2013 the first harvest of Gorgona (2012) was presented at the DAP in Rome and in September of the same year also the President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano received the magnum number "0" as a gift from Lamberto Frescobaldi himself.
In June 2014 Frescobaldi signed a collaboration contract with the prison administration for 15 years, and hired two inmates who work in the vineyard in Gorgona and who are paid directly by the company.
In February 2015, the inmates, coordinated by the Frescobaldi oenologists, planted another hectare of Vermentino on the island with the aim of involving more people in the work on the vineyard and obtaining (in 4 years) a better quality wine. The hectares of vineyards therefore become 2.3 Ha.
In June 2018, the sixth harvest of Gorgona, "Gorgona 2017", was presented. The production is 9,000 bottles and the label is dedicated to the fauna present on the island. A perfectly acclimatised harmonious biodiversity: from the wild rabbit, to the peregrine falcon, to the herring gull that have chosen Gorgona as their nesting place.
THE PARTNERS
Andrea Bocelli who wanted to create the text and sign the label of the 2013 vintage.
"The Tuscan archipelago is an earthly paradise of which Gorgona is the wildest and most luminescent pearl of Aphrodite. Behind its apparent grumpiness, the unspeakable seduction of perfumes and silences, and a nature that moves with its strength, the his eternal puberty.... And around, water and salt, to reflect the messages of the sky, to tighten the laces to the sails." (A.Bocelli - 2014)
Simonetta Doni of Studio Doni & Associati , one of the very few specialized international graphic studios
in the design of wine labels, every year he participates by donating the graphic design of the wine by interpreting, with a highly specialized team with specific cultural and artistic sensitivity, the characteristics that make the project and its island unique.
Giorgio Pinchiorri , patron of the Enoteca Pinchiorri, one of the best-known Italian restaurants in the world, participates in the project by choosing to contribute, with his exclusive cuisine, to promoting the food and wine heritage of the Gorgona island.
Argotractors , an Argo Group company founded in 2007 with the aim of creating a tractor center of global significance, has donated a vineyard tractor for the activities to be carried out on the island.
FRESCOBALDI MARQUISES
The Frescobaldi family has been producing wine in Tuscany for over 700 years. Frescobaldi is one of the main wineries in Italy, with products that are in the high range of fine wines. The company, which combines tradition and innovation, believes in respecting the territory and in enhancing the grapes of its vineyards, and is known worldwide for its wines from Tenuta Castiglioni, Tenuta CastelGiocondo, Tenuta Perano, Castello Nipozzano, Castello Pomino, Tenuta Ammiraglia, Tenuta Calimaia, Rémole and Gorgona.
