On the trail of the Romans

It was his grandfather who once awakened Piero Pavone's fascination for Roman history. In Pavone's hometown, the small town of Atri at the foot of the Abruzzi, the ancient Hadria, this history is still omnipresent and alive today. Many of the buildings in the historic city centre stand on the ruins of ancient Rome.

As a young man, Piero Pavone was initially drawn away from Atri, to the big city. But twenty years later he returned to his roots, with the idea of reviving the Vinum Hadrianum, the wine from Roman times.

An archaeologist and a number of other scientists helped to research the necessary knowledge about viticulture of the time. As in former times, the wines are to be matured in amphorae distilled from the same loamy clay on which the vines stand in the stony hill landscape of Atris, criss-crossed by mighty erosion gullies, the Calanchi.

Image: Vinum Hadrianum

Rare plants and animals live in the unique nature reserve. Mechanical cultivation of the vineyards is impossible here – and not even wanted by Piero Pavone's team, which follows a biodynamic concept.

With six hectares of old vines, which originally belonged to a small family business, the ambitious project was launched in 2018. In addition to an oenologist who acts in an advisory capacity, the core team still consists of five winegrowers from the region who carry out the extremely laborious manual work in the vineyards.

The first wines are a juicy and fruit-intensive Montepulciano “Maximo” with distinctive but polished tannins and an orange wine “Aelio” made from Trebbiano grapes, a powerhouse that manages with hardly more than 12.5 % alcohol, but whose aroma is somewhat reminiscent of a Viognier from the southern Rhône. The mash fermentation gives it a pronounced phenolic that fills the mouth without drifting into bitterness.

Image: Vinum Hadrianum

Of course, Piero Pavone and his colleagues have not yet reached their goal with their extremely successful first works, excellent as they may be. Because ageing in amphorae proved to be too difficult in the first year, the debut wines still matured in conventional containers. However, this is already different for the successors to the vintage, which have not yet been released.

Vinum Hadrianum wines should be as natural as possible, with the taste of high-quality tannins extracted from the grape skins by maceration and without the use of selected yeasts.

However, the winemakers obviously cannot get along with some of the excesses of the natural wine scene. Completely undogmatically, the wines receive the sulfur necessary for their shelf life. While the “Maximo” has found its balance with only 68 mg/l sulfur dioxide, the reductive “Aelio” has 89 mg/l. Both wines will therefore age effortlessly for several years with dignity. This is undoubtedly something they have ahead of their models from Roman times.

The course for the future has already been set. More vineyards are gradually being added to the project. The range of grape varieties is to be expanded soon to include the white varieties Pecorino and Passerina, and in addition to another orange wine, the production of a sweet wine is also planned.