Lamberto Frescobaldi, president of Marchesi Frescobaldi, uncorked the first bottle of Gorgona 2025 on the island.

– Lamberto Frescobaldi, President of Marchesi Frescobaldi, uncorked the first bottle of Gorgona 2025 today on the island, inaugurating the new vintage of a wine born in one of the most extraordinary places in the world: the island of Gorgona, the last active penal colony in Europe.

Here, since 2012, a project born from the collaboration between Marchesi Frescobaldi and the Gorgona Penitentiary has been active: a training and social reintegration program through viticulture. Inmates, serving the final phase of their sentences, work closely with nature, acquiring professional skills in the vineyard and cellar, supported by Marchesi Frescobaldi agronomists and oenologists.

"When you enter prison, your concept of time changes completely: the days all become the same, you lose the rhythm of the seasons and almost any sense of anticipation and the future. In the vineyard, the opposite happens. The vine changes every day of the year, requiring constant attention, care, and presence. It's a job that brings inmates back to a more authentic, more human time. This is why the Gorgona project, now in its fourteenth harvest, continues to make us deeply proud every year: we offer these people not only employment and a salary, but the concrete opportunity to regain balance, dignity, and a new perspective for the future," said Lamberto Frescobaldi.

In Gorgona, time follows the rhythm of the seasons and the vine's growing cycle. Throughout the year, inmates actively participate in winemaking, enjoying a professional and human experience that emphasizes the value of time, responsibility, and a relationship with the land.

Described in 2014 by Andrea Bocelli as "Aphrodite's wildest and most luminous pearl," Gorgona is a natural amphitheater suspended above the sea. The vineyard, which now extends over 2.3 hectares, grows on iron-rich soils, protected from the winds and constantly caressed by the sea breeze. In this unique terroir , the Vermentino and Ansonica varieties find one of their most intense and distinctive expressions, giving life to a wine capable of encapsulating the energy, salinity, and very soul of the island.

It is precisely the value of the cru that makes Gorgona a unique wine: the extreme combination of soil, climate, and the people who work there creates unique conditions, capable of transforming every difficulty into great character and expressive depth.

Created, as she does every year, by Simonetta Doni of Studio Doni & Associati , specializing in wine label design, the Gorgona 2025 label also tells a unique story. For this new vintage, the inspiration is rooted in the myths and legends of the Tyrrhenian Sea. According to an ancient legend, Venus, goddess of love and beauty, emerged from the waters wearing a pearl necklace. While crossing the Tyrrhenian Sea, the string broke, and seven pearls fell into the sea, transforming into the islands of the Tuscan Archipelago. A legend that poetically captures the identity of these lands: each island holds a different character, as if each pearl, falling into the sea, had retained a distinct fragment of the goddess's beauty.

Gorgona 2025 displays a bright straw yellow color with light golden highlights. The bouquet is the truest maritime expression of Vermentino and Ansonica, where the warmth of the sun and the fresh sea breezes masterfully intertwine. The initial aromas are those of Mediterranean scrub with hints of thyme, sage, and helichrysum, which combine with floral notes of chamomile, acacia, and jasmine. Subsequently, fruity notes of citrus, yellow and white stone fruit, with delicate tropical notes, become more pronounced with age. On the palate, it is fresh and savory. The finish is long.

HARVEST 2025

After a rain-free autumn with normal temperatures, the winter was slightly colder than previous years, marked by frequent, evenly distributed rainfall and intense thunderstorms in March. Vermentino budbreak occurred in early April, followed by Ansonica in mid-April. A mild spring and sudden heat in June, tempered by the influence of the sea, favored regular vine growth and excellent health. The cooler, breezy summer, with some isolated showers, facilitated proper ripening of the grapes. Harvest took place in September, under ideal conditions thanks to cool, sunny days that allowed the grapes to reach full ripeness.

GORGONA – TUSCAN COAST IGT

A unique wine, produced in 9,000 bottles per harvest, symbolizing the intersection of winemaking excellence, respect for nature, and social responsibility. A wine that speaks of the island, the people who work there, and the real possibility that beauty and hard work can change lives.

THE VISION

Frescobaldi per il sociale was born in August 2012. Even before being a wine, it was a multi-year project born from a collaboration with the penal colony's management. Its goal was to give inmates hands-on experience in viticulture.

THE PROJECT

The Gorgona project was born in August 2012 thanks to the collaboration between Marchesi Frescobaldi and Gorgona, Europe's only island prison. Here, inmates spend the final stretch of their sentences, working in contact with nature to develop skills that facilitate their reintegration into the workforce and society. The project, developed around a small vineyard, nestled in an amphitheater overlooking the sea, aims to provide inmates with hands-on experience in viticulture, with the collaboration and supervision of Marchesi Frescobaldi agronomists and oenologists. The inmates have brought one hectare of vineyard back into production on the island, to which Marchesi Frescobaldi has added 1.3 hectares over the years.

Gorgona Rosso sees the light with the 2015 harvest, from a few rows of Sangiovese and Vermentino Nero, grown organically and then aged in terracotta jars.

PROJECT TIMING

In May 2013 the first Gorgona harvest (2012) was presented at the DAP in Rome and in September of the same year the President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, received the magnum number "0" as a gift from Lamberto himself.