Tenuta Maffone

A small strip of land squeezed between steep wooded slopes, a magical place where the tradition of wine and good oil is the gift of Mother Nature to the men who have always worked with passion between these slopes.
It is here in the upper Arroscia Valley – in the province of Imperia – that Bruno and Eliana run a family business that embodies the history of a small corner of Liguria. The company is young. It was born in 2009 when Bruno decides to leave his job to devote himself to the vineyards. A courageous choice that changed the lives of both.
The municipality is Pieve di Teco, the Acquetico fraction, between 500 and 700 meters above sea level, where the sun and the mild Mediterranean winds give the vineyards the best conditions for ripening the grapes.
A scenario that is more alpine than agricultural – where you can meet wild boars and roe deer – defined by Mario Soldati as “the optimum” or the best “for the quality of the grapes and the wine”.
The vineyards owned by the family are from 60 to 100 years old and the choice is to maintain and cultivate them in the traditional way, not using herbicides and chemical fertilizers.
In the vineyard, barley and field beans are sown which are then minced and buried to nitrogenize the soil.
The particularly favorable position of the vineyards, very ventilated at altitude and well exposed to the sun, allows us to do very few treatments and not to use anti-molds – we therefore conduct a cultivation of grapes with great respect for the environment and the nature that surrounds us – it is not strange in fact in summer to find bird nests well hidden in the leaves of the vines.
It is the homeland of Ormeasco, a native vine grown in a restricted area of ​​Imperia which, together with the Pigato – another indigenous variety of absolute quality – constitutes the pride and joy of Tenuta Maffone.
The Pigato grown at 500 m. above sea level, vinified with cryomaceration and long batonage before bottling, it differs greatly in aromas and structure from those grown closer to the sea.

Ormeasco is vinified 5 different ways – starting from Sciac-trà – a natural rosé derived from a white vinification – the classic Ormeasco, maceration on the skins with steel vinification – L ‘Ormeasco Superiore, late harvest of selected grapes hand in the oldest vineyard, maceration on the skins and a passage of about 6 months in large wooden barrels – L ‘Ormeasco Passito, a small production with grapes dried on racks until January and then hand grabbed and pressed in the old press.
In 2012 Bruno decides to pursue a project he had been studying for some time – making Ormeasco sparkling wine.
These mountain grapes that no one had ever tried to vinify in ways other than those of the tradition but which lend themselves well to aging and the superior or passito ormeaschi grapes that we have the opportunity to taste, perhaps even found in old cellars forgotten by many, prove it. years .
Well let’s start this new adventure!
Following the instructions of the oenologist, Marco Biglino, to the letter, we start to harvest the Ormeasco in the first days of September – more than a month and a half earlier than the classic harvest.
These grapes still far behind in the maturation are vinified in white, when the wine is made it is bottled following the dictates of the vinification of the Classic Method sparkling wines and then the bottles are placed in the old cellar of the grandfather to rest for at least 30 months.
In 2014 the first disgorgement is a success !! The Classic Method of Ormeasco grapes to which the name “Dueluglio” was given – first and only in the world – has become a reality, is immediately appreciated and you are already thinking about what it will be like after 48 or 60 months and therefore production continues with renewed enthusiasm .

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