Il Mangiabottoni is the name of the wine born from the synergy between Marinella Camerani , founder of the Corte Sant'Alda farm, and the Social Cooperative L'Officina dell'Aias - Associazione Italiana Assistenza Spastici, which for over twenty years has promoted the employment of people with disabilities. Objective: to combine winemaking knowledge with the value of inclusion, generating a sustainable production model also from a human point of view.
The heart of the project is Podere Castagnè , 14 hectares in Val di Mezzane (Verona), between 420 and 550 m above sea level, characterized by calcareous soils, steep slopes and a wooded landscape of great biodiversity, many animals and the possibility of staying or walking there. It was precisely here that it was decided to bring the guys from L'Officina to deal with the work in the vineyard and then in the cellar, side by side with the team from Azienda Agricola Camerani. This is where Il Mangiabottoni Valpolicella DOC 2024 took shape, a wine that is not only the result of a production process, but the symbol of a human journey . A fresh, mineral red, fermented in non-vitrified cement with indigenous yeasts, produced from Corvinone and Rondinella grapes grown using the Guyot system on 2011 and 2016 plants.
“This collaboration represents a reset for me ,” says Marinella Camerani , “a way to redefine my approach to work, to the community and to the very concept of value after 40 years as a winemaker. I am the one who needs the guys from Il Mangiabottoni to reposition myself on a level where words like friendship, well-being, happiness, work and health have a meaning that is perhaps more basic, but certainly more profound.”
The project involves the direct inclusion of the cooperative's young people in all phases: green management, manual harvesting, winemaking, bottling and packaging. "Inclusion also involves wine," emphasizes Emanuele Germiniasi , director of the Cooperative. "This project is concrete proof that every limit can become a resource , every diversity a wealth. This activity, like all those of L'Officina dell'Aias, involves people with disabilities who bring into play their skills but also their behaviors, sometimes stereotyped or a little bizarre, like those of Fabio, a person with disabilities who we loved very much, who took buttons off his clothes to eat them and to whose memory this wine is dedicated."
With the financial support of the Camerani Agricultural Company, the ambition is to transform Podere Castagnè into a stable employment laboratory , capable of training professional resources in the wine sector, with attention to new fragilities. A challenge for the future of Italian wine in which quality, sustainability and social responsibility are not just keywords, but daily actions.
The wine, produced in approximately 3,300 limited edition bottles , will be on sale at 18 euros starting from April 10th in the best wine shops.
