HISTORY - Martina Franca and the Wine: the inheritance of the centuries
The right technique.
The Martina Franca wine’s history traces its roots back to times when hardworking farmers with their own sweat and great passion painted the image of this land with colours of luxuriant vineyards. We must go back to the end of 19 th century to be able to speak about the great progress done in the viticulture of the Itria Valley, when, for the first time, the European vines have been grafted onto Phylloxera-resistant American rootstocks. The wine-planting procedure has evolved since then, and with subsequent improvements has arrived to a net perfection, thanks to the introduction of a technique adapted to the biological necessities of the vines.
The genius and the wisdom for a secular history .
The procedure of the vine-planting, yet in the 1900, required to break-up the top layer of the soil overlaying the calcareous stone at depths of 60-70cm. With the stones, obtained from the crushed rocks, the farmers used to create an ingenious layer of stones covering it with a strip of red earth. This particular type of surface helped to drain the water in excess when rained but at the same time to retain sufficient moisture in times of drought thanks to the water withheld in the narrow cracks, formed by the time, in the compact rocks. In this way was possible to deal either with the excessive moisture either with the regular periods of dryness.
The strength of the best traditions .
The fame of the Martina’s village wine can be witnessed by some documents dating back to the 1800 and we can also find tracks in many treaties of commercial and international nature, registered after the Second World War. The large demand of the north industries which produced Vermouth has however interrupted that long and meticulous tradition oriented towards quality wines production, bringing the local producers to point more on the quantity rather than the quality of the wines. A choice that the best wine producers decided not to pursue and, thanks to their extraordinary techniques, preferred instead to keep high the reputation of the Valley d'Itria name in the world.
Nature and technology at the service of an exceptional wine.
The Tenute Girolamo keep following the tradition and looking after the land, using high density planting and intertwining passion and professionalism for the achievement of a wine highly appreciated at international level. The nature itself gave to this land the best environmental conditions for the grapegrowing. The experience of farmers later intertwined the enological traditions with the sensitiveness for technological innovations that favour natural vinification. The result has led to an inimitable wine that represents with pride the Martina Franca city in the world.
