Day 11, part B
The DiFilippo Winery, a half-hour drive from Spello, is a long way from the high-gloss, high-tech wineries of Napa…or elsewhere in Umbria for that matter. In fact, the driver who delivered us there never stopped shaking his head at our preference for visiting there, muttering repeatedly that there are better winery destinations. DiFilippo is, indeed, a little off the beaten path, and there are certainly more polished, customer-friendly operations. But there are relational ties to friends in Spello, and such connections carry weight. Additionally, their 35 hectares of calcareous clay soil and the vines they support are certified organic; plus, they employ the bio-dynamic practices advocated by Rudolph Steiner almost a hundred years ago that align human behaviors and interventions in the vineyards with the systems and principles of nature.
That explains the horses, and the geese.
All of the cultivation is accomplished with draught horses — towering animals, exactingly trained — to avoid the soil compaction that tractors would leave behind, strangling the roots and starving the vines. And let’s face it, while the grapes get all the press, it’s ultimately all about the roots. Beyond their lighter touch, the horse hooves massage the soil, according to our host, stirring and stimulating the ground while leaving the roots ample freedom and encouragement to grow and deepen and nourish.
As for that nourishment, the vineyard workers spread compost, but they also receive additional support.
That explains the geese.
Three-hundred geese call the vineyard home. They patrol the paths between the rows, eating bugs and weeds while depositing nutrient-rich manure. The geese only become detrimental to the grapes once the fruit begins to ripen, at which time they are herded into paddocks beyond the vines, and ultimately butchered for cured meat.
I was struck by the paradoxical contrasts between the olive oil processing plant we visited in the morning and the winery we visited in the afternoon. The former is entirely modern, while the latter might even be deemed primitive. In both cases, however, their methods are in service to a lighter, more encouraging touch. Both — one with sophisticated technology and the other with horses and geese — eschew the heavy-handed methods of coercion and compaction in favor of evocation; they simply arrive at that shared priority from opposite directions.
Which is interesting, and instructive. And, for people like me with a penchant for believing there to be a single “right path” for reaching a single “desired end”, humbling…
…and cautionary.
Cheers, then, to the horse, the goose, the centrifuge and the artisans of oil and wine and civil life discerning enough to partner with them.
The DiFilippo Winery, a half-hour drive from Spello, is a long way from the high-gloss, high-tech wineries of Napa…or elsewhere in Umbria for that matter. In fact, the driver who delivered us there never stopped shaking his head at our preference for visiting there, muttering repeatedly that there are better winery destinations. DiFilippo is, indeed, a little off the beaten path, and there are certainly more polished, customer-friendly operations. But there are relational ties to friends in Spello, and such connections carry weight. Additionally, their 35 hectares of calcareous clay soil and the vines they support are certified organic; plus, they employ the bio-dynamic practices advocated by Rudolph Steiner almost a hundred years ago that align human behaviors and interventions in the vineyards with the systems and principles of nature.
That explains the horses, and the geese.
All of the cultivation is accomplished with draught horses — towering animals, exactingly trained — to avoid the soil compaction that tractors would leave behind, strangling the roots and starving the vines. And let’s face it, while the grapes get all the press, it’s ultimately all about the roots. Beyond their lighter touch, the horse hooves massage the soil, according to our host, stirring and stimulating the ground while leaving the roots ample freedom and encouragement to grow and deepen and nourish.
As for that nourishment, the vineyard workers spread compost, but they also receive additional support.
That explains the geese.
Three-hundred geese call the vineyard home. They patrol the paths between the rows, eating bugs and weeds while depositing nutrient-rich manure. The geese only become detrimental to the grapes once the fruit begins to ripen, at which time they are herded into paddocks beyond the vines, and ultimately butchered for cured meat.I was struck by the paradoxical contrasts between the olive oil processing plant we visited in the morning and the winery we visited in the afternoon. The former is entirely modern, while the latter might even be deemed primitive. In both cases, however, their methods are in service to a lighter, more encouraging touch. Both — one with sophisticated technology and the other with horses and geese — eschew the heavy-handed methods of coercion and compaction in favor of evocation; they simply arrive at that shared priority from opposite directions.
Which is interesting, and instructive. And, for people like me with a penchant for believing there to be a single “right path” for reaching a single “desired end”, humbling…
…and cautionary.
Cheers, then, to the horse, the goose, the centrifuge and the artisans of oil and wine and civil life discerning enough to partner with them.
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