Denavolo

At Giulio Armani's, the distinctive and eloquent owner of Denavolo, many threads come together. Many winemakers and aspiring ones, including Guido Zampaglioni from Tenuta Grillo, visit him before diving into the action. His advice carries weight, as do his wines.

Giulio Armani's Dinavolo is one of the major milestones of "vini macerati," those wines whose white grapes are processed like red wines. It is produced in the hills southwest of Piacenza from a variety of grape varieties, where, as is often the case with orange wines from Emilia-Romagna, Malvasia di Candia Aromatica sets the tone, structure, and aromas. The skin of this Malvasia variety is as thick as that of a hippopotamus, which is why the grape variety also has tannins like a good Barolo. It is complemented by Ortrugo, its congenial partner, which counters the aromatic explosion of Malvasia with calmness and neutrality. Marsanne, allegedly introduced to the area by Napoleonic troops two hundred years ago and locally known as Sciampagnino—little Champagne—and a few unidentified white grapes also play their part.

The vineyard (Denavolo) is largely managed by hand and harvested late. Afterward, the wine is fermented and aged in a fairly radical manner. Maceration times range between four months and one year, followed by another year in the tank—Dinavolo is neither filtered nor clarified, the temperature is not controlled, and Giulio has not used sulfur for several years. Giulio Armani started the Denavolo project in 2005.

Parallel to this, he works as a cellar master at Elena Pantaleoni's cult winery, La Stoppa. In the hills between Val Trebbia and Val Nure, he acquired his vineyard, located at an altitude of about 500 meters, with steep terrain based on pure rock. In the plots at the upper part of the vineyard, which can only be worked manually, the vines for the aforementioned Dinavolo are located. One level below, at the foot of the slope, in slightly deeper terrain, the same grape varieties for Dinavolino, its little brother, take root.

In 2008, a second vineyard was added, with equally steep slopes rising up to 700 meters. Giulio's idea was to produce an aromatic and light-footed wine from there, similar to what was traditionally made for vineyard workers. Thus, Catavela was born, another macerated cuvée made from Malvasia di Candia Aromatica, Marsanne, Ortrugo, Trebbiano Romagnolo, Sauvignon Blanc, and Santa Maria, which today serves as an introductory wine to his small but extremely fine range.